Chronicles DC: 2nd Gen
by Yan Oddball
Summary: 17 years after Chaos Legion forces ripped them apart, Karen Starr and Keith Van Fanell reunite and rebuild their family. Sequel to Chaotic Worlds: Chronicles DC which is being written concurrently. Mainly PG/OC, but I support BMWW & SMLL so there'll be snippets here and there.
1. Chapter 1: Happy Birthday (Part 1)

**Universe 3576: New York**

The bright sun promised a beautiful weekend ahead. The darkened room in Karen Starr's apartment made no such promises. It was 8.30am, and she had been awake since the moment the clock had struck 12 midnight. Out of all the days in the year, she had dreaded this one. Not for the first time, she reminded herself to stand up and move on.

Not for the first time, she remembered that she had lost the foundation for her to stand on, and that there was no way she could get them back.

She shook her head, and mentally slapped herself. She hadn't lost her foundation completely. Her head turned to look at the picture on her bedside table, and she smiled as she looked at the face of a golden-haired girl smiling back at her, the girl's face a copy of her own.

It was her daughter's birthday. Her daughter was 18.

20 minutes later, Karen had finished dressing. From a hidden compartment in her cupboard, she took out a simple silver necklace. The necklace's chain held two items of utmost importance to her, a wedding ring and a circular locket. Opening the locket as she always did, Karen Starr gazed at the pictures adorning both sides of the locket. She never knew if her daughter, a room away, followed a similar ritual each morning with her own locket necklace.

A young man beamed out at her, his infectious smile strong yet gentle. The picture had faded over the years, but age had not been able to obscure the man's piercing grey eyes. When she had met the man she would one day marry, Karen's eyes had been drawn to his. The young man had been cocky, and seemed to find pleasure in making dramatic entrances, but his eyes had told a different story. There was quiet strength in those eyes, a confidence borne of accepting pain and moving forward. Karen Starr hadn't liked the young man very much when they first met, but she had trusted him immediately. Her love for him had come in time.

The young girl in the picture opposite had her father's eyes. She had been a quiet child, never giving much trouble, but her eyes had promised of great things to come. The same quiet, confident nonchalance in her father, but tempered by kindness.

She slid out the picture of the baby boy behind the picture of her husband. He was a handsome boy, and he had his father's cheeky smile. If his older sister was a picture of potential and his twin sister an example of joy, the boy was curiosity personified. The first thing he had crawled towards was a picture book, and Karen had spent many a lazy afternoon reading with him.

Karen Starr's gaze lingered on the pictures, before a voice broke through the morning quiet.

"Mom? Mom, are you up yet? I made breakfast, and it's gonna get cold!"

The locket was closed; the necklace worn, and the ring slipped onto her finger, a comfortable and familiar presence. She went out of the room and joined her daughter for breakfast. But before she joined Ashley for breakfast, she sneaked one final peek at the pictures of the young girl and her baby brother in the locket.

It was her children's birthday.

Her daughter was 21. Her son was 18.

* * *

**Universe 1566: Mithril HQ**

Mithril Commander Keith Van Fanell raced down the stairs down to Tech Division, accidentally barrelling over a few of his officers, all of whom were shocked to see the normally composed Commander so flustered. He reached the Special Projects branch, and sprinted to the room at the furthest end of the corridor, his fingers flying over the security console as he typed out the password as fast as he could. He didn't wait for the door to open completely, immediately sprinting over to the room's current occupants.

"You're absolutely certain it's completed? The pathway has been repaired?" he asked the nearest one.

Charlie Jackson, Co-Head of Mithril's Tech Division smiled reassuringly at his brother-in-law. "We did it, Van. The pathway's repaired. C'mere and take a look."

He led the Commander into the next room. The tiny room was empty, save for a standard Mithril warp portal arc, still deactivated.

"It's not -"

"It's not another false alarm, Van, you have our word on this. There're a lot of kinks to work out, and the link is still a bit patchy, but there's no doubt about this. We think we have a working pathway into Universe 3576 again."

Van Fanell just stared at the arc for a full five minutes again before speaking. "Get Lieutenant-Commander Jamie Fanell and Lieutenant Alex Fanell here, please. As well as the other division heads."

* * *

**Universe 3576: New York**

Ashley's birthday party was being held at the old JSA headquarters, and the festivities had already been moved to the courtyard outside. Surrounded by her Teen Titans teammates, the shy birthday girl appeared flustered by the attention. Karen, tired out from the organizing and planning of the event earlier, had taken the time to enjoy a cup of tea by herself, a short distance away, when she was joined by two others. She grinned, raising her cup to them.

"If it isn't the former Boy Wonders. Care to join me, guys?"

Dick Grayson and Tim Drake, respectively Nightwing and Red Robin, grinned in return as they joined her on the park bench. "Don't you guys ever get tired of calling us Boy Wonders?"

She raised her eyebrows. "You'd rather I call you Man Wonders?"

The two men winced. "You may have a point there," Tim said as he took a seat beside Karen, nodding gratefully at the cup of tea that she passed him. "The birthday party seems to be a success, despite the initial hiccups."

She chuckled. "Oh, there were hiccups alright. It really isn't easy hiding a present from someone who has x-ray vision."

"Yeah that's what Conner and Cassie say every time they hold a party for their kid. So what're you planning for their birthday?"

" 'Their'? You mean 'her'. We're talking about Ashley, aren't we? I already planned a celebration, Dick. It's happening right now. And it's a success. Tim said so," replied Karen, frowning.

Tim reached out, placing his hand on hers. "Karen. He's asking what you're planning for _their _birthday."

His eyes were locked on the chain of her necklace. She met his eyes, glancing from him to Dick, and smiled sadly, shrugging a shoulder. "I saved two cupcakes in the refrigerator. At the end of the day, I was going to light two candles, make a wish for them. It's what I've been doing for the past 17 years. That, and throwing out two uneaten birthday cupcakes."

"Every year?"

"_Twice_ every year. Can't forget her father's birthday, can I?" she answered, bitterness starting to seep in as memories started flooding back.

"Karen – "

"It's not Van's fault, I know that, Dick. And you don't need to worry about me or Ashley either; we're both fine. I'm ok now."

"You didn't move on, did you?"

She shook her head as she pulled out the locket from under her shirt, opening it. "No, and I won't. Whatever happened in the past, whatever will happen in the future, I still love Van with all my heart, no matter what. It's always been him; there's never been anyone else."

She smiled gently at Van's picture in the locket. "It's more a case of acceptance, I suppose."

She looked up at the brothers. "None of us knew what was going to happen on that day, none of us could have prevented it from happening. But we make the best of what we have. I raised Ashley; she knows that I'll always be there for her. And as for Jamie and Alex, I know that Van's taking good care of them. And Van… Van's got the others with him. It's not like they're growing up in a broken family. I know that, wherever they are, they've grown into the children that I'll always be proud of, just like Ashley. I just wish…"

She broke off, a single tear rolling down her cheek.

"I miss them, guys. I miss Van. I miss Jamie. I miss Alex. I miss them so much."

**"I don't. I hate them. But if you miss them so much, I'll send them to meet you. Once you're dead, that is."**

* * *

**Universe 1566: Mithril HQ**

Lieutenant-Commander Jamie Fanell, head of Mithril's Preventer metahuman unit and the successor to her father Van, easily side-stepped a junior officer's lunch tray as she navigated the lunch crowd. Her younger brother Alex, a Preventer combat medic in Mithril's Medical Division, walked closely behind her. The two young agents had been having lunch with their cousins when the urgent summons had come. Their cousins had just been perplexed as them, by all accounts the Commander had given the Preventers the weekend off. But they had understood as the two siblings took their leave, mumbling a hasty excuse. If the Commander called, you went.

Jamie's hand reached out to the locket necklace her father had given her for her fifth birthday. It had become a habit for her to reach for it every time she was nervous, an impulse reason that she did not need to understand. The pictures of her mother and baby sister always calmed her down. Alex did not have a locket like hers, but he kept the same pictures of his mother and twin sister in his wallet, and his hand was now jammed in his pocket. No doubt he was fidgeting with it.

"Jammy! Alex!"

Jamie looked up to see her cousin Nora running towards her, flustered. She hurriedly closed the locket. "Uncle Van called you to report to him, right?"

"Yeah, do you know anything about it? Did Uncle Charlie or Aunt Lisa tell you anything about it?"

Nora shook her head. Her mother Lisa Fanell-Jackson was Commander Fanell's younger sister, and Co-Head of Mithril's Tech Division, along with Nora's father Charlie Jackson. "Nothing specific, but remember the classified project that I discovered hacking their personal files last year?"

"It's related?" asked Alex.

"I'm sure of it," Nora replied confidently as she matched her stride with the two. "The project's been at the top of their personal to-do lists for the last 17 years, and they'd given it security to match. Not that it helped."

"I thought I told you to be careful," Jamie said, worry furrowing her brow.

"Please. You're looking at the next Tech Div Head, a simple encryption like that wasn't a problem to me. In any case, I couldn't get anything specific, but the project's centred on warp portal tech. If I'd discovered this new clue much earlier, maybe I might have had a few ideas as to what this project involves. Right now, I'm just as clueless as you."

"But you think it's something to do with warp portal tech?" asked Alex. He shared a brief glance with his sister before looking back at Nora incredulously. "Dad wants to show Jamie and me a warp portal?"

Nora shrugged. "Something like that, yeah. Hey, I'm just telling you what I think it is."

"Doesn't matter, I guess," Jamie replied as she and Alex turned a corner and stopped. Behind the door were their father and the other Mithril division heads, doubtless with information for them. "We'll know soon enough. Thanks Nora." With that, the two continued walking, leaving Nora behind.

"Maybe it's your present?" called Nora. "It is your birthday after all, you two!"

"Yeah, maybe it leads to the universe where I got all the teddy bears!" Jamie shouted back, grinning as she and Alex entered the room.

* * *

**Universe 3576: New York (Old JSA HQ)**

**"Please don't make any sudden moves, Mrs Fanell. The two of you as well, Misters Grayson and Drake."**

"How did you - ?"

**"Sneak up on you? Know your proper last name? Make your daughter an unknowing hostage?" **replied the voice, silken with menace. The visitor's voice was calm as he spoke, but there was no hiding the vein of barely-hidden hatred in it. **"Ah ah ah, no sudden moves, I said. There is currently a sniper rifle aimed at your daughter's head, loaded with kryptonite bullets. And if that doesn't work, well, I'm sure I can find a way to end her life before I end yours."**

"You're bluffing. The kid's a half-Kryptonian, with access to all the standard powers; trained in their use since young. She'll hear the gunshot, be able to dodge it while pushing anybody else out of the way, and locate the shooter's position in the space of one second."

**"Ah, Mr Timothy Drake. It looks like you still use that big brain of yours. One of the keenest analytical minds of your universe, peak physical fitness, and the Keeper of an elemental Gate as well. It's no wonder you were one of the few non-Fanell agents who commanded grudging respect within the Legion."**

Tim chuckled in derision. "Save it and tell us what you're here for. Tell us what the Chaos Legion is here for."

**"You've heard of us."**

"Don't give me the whole you've-never-heard-of-us routine. I know the Chaos Legion. Karen as well. We fought your people before. Nothing special. Fought you as well, 17 years ago. Yeah, I remember your voice. Gave you that nice scar on your right cheek. The last three _explosive _throwing stars I had on me at that moment, and all for you," continued Tim, enjoying the silent hatred building up in the air. "Hope it hurt."

There was an angry hiss of recognition from Karen as she finally recognised the voice. "You're that Warlock. 17 years ago. You're the one who attacked us. The one who broke up my family. You…you tore me away from my husband and children."

The Warlock's calm silky voice betrayed no trace of emotion whatsoever. **"Yes, and on this very date; the birthday of your older daughter, as well as that of your twins. No doubt you're filled with rage. No doubt you're employing the full spectrum of your vision abilities to find me."**

Screams rent the peaceful sky, of bystanders attacked. The irregular bass rhythm of explosions from a distance away followed, and the superheroes stopped the celebration. Dark pools of energy appeared all around them from nowhere, and the sound of inhuman beings slowly rising from these portals ensued. There was a shockwave of unseen dark energy, throwing the heroes and the party guests back, catching them off-guard. Ashley Fanell landed on her mother, and both stared in horror as a black portal appeared in the air and a cloaked man walked through it, topless under the opened cloak, his body heavily scarred and disfigured, his hooded face even more so.

**"Find me then. Find the last person who you shall see in death. Look upon your Reaper, and know that I will make your deaths very painful."**

* * *

**Universe 1566: Mithril HQ (Tech Division Room 0)**

Jamie Fanell stared at the nondescript warp portal arc in front of her for a long time, her arms crossed. She sneaked a glance. Alex had snagged a chair from the far corner and had straddled it casually beside her, his arms resting on the backrest. She was sure her face mirrored his confused stare. To her left, a distance away, stood her father, along with her uncles and aunt, all deep in conversation. The conversation finished, Van and his younger sister Lisa Fanell walked over to the two while their uncles Charlie and Ken started up the connection to whichever universe the arc was linked to.

"So what do you think of your birthday present?" asked Lisa.

"…I didn't think Nora was going to be absolutely on the money on this, to be honest. I really didn't think a warp portal arc was my present. Not that I don't appreciate it; it's just…strange."

She looked behind her at her father, his hand on her shoulder. He smiled. "The arc isn't your birthday present. The pathway link to the universe on the other side, the warp portal itself; that's your birthday present." He gestured to her to take a seat.

"This was always going to be a present for you two once it was ready, Jamie. If not this year, then next year. If not your birthday, then the very next day. But I kept this a secret from you, your cousins, even most of Mithril. The only ones who knew of this were your grandparents, my siblings and the previous Seals. And even then, I swore them to secrecy. To make sure the both of you never knew about this project," he told her gently.

"Why?"

"Because I didn't want to give you two false hope, Alex. I was scared of what would happen if this whole endeavour was nothing more than a hopeless failure, how it would affect you. But I had to do it. I was tired of seeing you two cry to sleep for two whole years. I was tired of waking up to an empty bed, of seeing an empty cot. I was tired of seeing both of you without a mother, of myself without the woman I love beside me. So we went ahead. We did all we could, repaired the connection and tried to jumpstart it again. And finally, finally…we did it."

Jamie Fanell, the stoic leader of Mithril's Preventer unit, a young woman so usually composed and steadfast, so calm and steady in battle, could not understand why she was trembling so badly. She could not understand why she was suddenly so terrified of that nondescript warp portal arc in front of her, no inkling why she wanted to leap through it and run away from it at the same time. Her trembling hand went for the locket. She opened it. A young woman smiled at her, the age of the photograph doing nothing to fade the love for her daughter that beamed out from her eyes. She had never been able been to stop staring at her mother's face, even more when Karen had been smiling. 17 years ago, while helping her father wrap up her birthday presents for the twins, a 4-year old Jamie had told her father just that. He had just laughed, ruffled her hair affectionately, and told his daughter, out of his wife's earshot, that he knew exactly how she felt.

Alex was looking at the other photograph, the one where both he and his twin sister Ashley had been caught in one of their many laughs when the picture was taken, about two months before their first birthday. Having been separated from his mother and sister at the age of one, he didn't remember their faces much. But he remembered his mother's smile. He remembered his sister's laugh. She had always been laughing, always been full of life. In the years since, whenever he had laughed at a joke or something funny he hoped that Ashley was laughing at the same time.

Jamie's hands were still trembling. For the first time in her life, the locket couldn't calm her down. She looked at her father, her vision blurring from the tears starting to roll down her cheeks. "Mom…Ashley…they're there? Through that portal? I…I…we can go see them? We can be together again?"

Alex looked steadily at his father as Jamie asked the question, coming to stand beside her.

Their father only hugged them hard, smiling as a tear rolled down his own cheek. His siblings stood by, beaming widely. He nodded. "Yeah. We're gonna go see your mom and Ashley."

"Jamie…Alex…Happy Birthday."


	2. Chapter 2: Happy Birthday (Part 2)

**Universe 3576: New York (Old JSA HQ)**

The battle was not going in the heroes' favour. Swarm after swarm of mindless creatures were pouring in from portals all over the city. Each was dressed in a smart black suit, like Secret Service agents, but all moved in a manner that was clearly not human. While some dragged their feet like zombies, others leapt all over the place, making them hard targets for the heroes mounting a counterattack.

"Red Robin to all superheroes in the area: listen up!" yelled Tim into his communicator as he waded through the mass of inhuman soldiers to get to a wounded Karen and Ashley. "First and foremost, these creatures, the identical ones in suits, they aren't human! They're known as Cursed Zombies, merely summoned familiars without any sentience whatsoever. Don't hold back!"

He leaped into a forward somersault, hurling down smoke pellets that hit just before the three shock batarangs that Nightwing had just thrown behind him hit their targets. The pellets and batarangs did their job, stunning half of the blinded Zombies attacking the two women, and he landed feet first on their backs, his bo staff extended. Dick joined the battle a beat later, his escrima sticks lashing out in quick crippling strikes.

"These Cursed Zombies come from another universe; a threat that only the older heroes will remember, seventeen years ago! Their aim is to steal the life-force of every living thing in the area, and they'll kill to get it! Make sure it doesn't happen! Protect everyone!"

He paused to take out a metallic bracelet from one of the pockets in his utility belt, slipping it onto his right wrist. _Been a while since I used this. Been even longer since the last maintenance. I don't even know how much charge it has left. But there's no time to waste. _

He looked up at the marauding Zombies, and slapped down hard on the bracelet's power button, activating it. "Shield-Gen on!"

_Shield-Gen activated._

A blue-white light leapt out from the bracelet before reforming itself to envelop every inch of the veteran hero's body. The bracelet hummed steadily, if a bit weakly. But the power that now radiated from Red Robin was real and significant, and the challenging look on his face told everyone that he knew how to use it.

Two pairs of heat vision beams lanced out from within the pile on top of Karen Starr-Fanell and Ashley Fanell. Both mother and daughter stood ready for battle, their civilian clothes shredded away by the clawing hands of the Zombies, revealing their costumes underneath. **"Powwerrr Girrll…Powweerr Womannn…"**

Ashley flew straight into the crowd punching a swath through the throng of Zombies before abruptly flying up, allowing her mother to use her freezing breath on the advancing forces. She then zoomed back into the fight, punctuating her attacks with blasts of heat vision as Red Robin and Nightwing managed to reach her mother, supporting Karen from the flanks.

There was a sound of twin pistols being cocked, and both Tim and Dick leapt into cover as gunshots rang out. The bullets tore through the Zombies, leaving them to collapse where they stood. The scarred man walked through the crowd, shoving away the Zombies he had shot with disregard. He looked at Karen Starr, standing ready before him, fists up, and at Ashley Fanell, floating up a short distance from her mother. Their eyes glowed red, a challenge to him to do his worst.

Challenge accepted. The guns in his hands glowed an unholy gold. The shredded Zombies, motionless on the ground, suddenly melted into a stinking black ooze, while their brethren hung back. Half of the ooze was absorbed by the guns, the other by the scarred man himself. He only smiled, baring his teeth.

**"My Zombies. My familiars. My weapons. My rules." **

His scarred eyes, another part of the horrific landscape of his face, was gazing steadily at Power Woman. She shuddered involuntarily, pushing away the poisonous seed of fear in her heart, forcing the minor trembling in her body to stop. For one second, her eyes flickered to the locket around Ashley's neck, hoping against hope. But help was not coming. She knew that. The Legion was only after her and Ashley; the marauding killers that the scarred man had unleashed were an afterthought, an added benefit. She steeled herself, and met his stare. He grinned.

**"Your deaths."**

And shot a bulletproof Kryptonian woman through her right shoulder.

* * *

**Universe 1566: Mithril HQ (Tech Division Room 0)**

"We're booting up! Ken, I need your help with the power levels! This thing's still sensitive to fluctuations in power; I need your help to regulate them. Charlie, sweetie, we need to lock in the coordinates for Universe 3576. Brian, Sam! Take a console, help him with the calculations and get a viewscreen up as soon as possible!" shouted Lisa Fanell as her fingers flew over the console in front of her, activating the warp portal arc in front of Van and Lisa.

A holoscreen popped up in front of the two, the image displayed on it nothing but flickering static as the pathway link had not been fully activated yet. As Ken concentrated, golden light began to emit from the arc, and a soft whirring sound ensued as the device started up. The static began to dissipate slowly and sounds began to filter through as a picture began to form slowly on the holoscreen.

"The sounds coming through…they don't sound like normal static," muttered Brian Fanell as he keyed in a series of commands on his keyboard. "Sam? You getting the same thing?"

"Yeah. They're louder; sound a bit…coarser? I can't make heads or tails of it."

"What do you think's causing it?" asked Van, his brows furrowed. Jamie saw the flicker of worry in her father's face. She only hoped that she didn't display the same. She wanted to be confident that this would work, but she was terrified of what could happen in the next few minutes.

Her aunt chewed her lip as she paused over her typing, exchanging a knowing look with her husband Charlie. "There's a possible explanation. I just hope we're wrong about it," she said as she glanced at her elder brother, resuming her typing with a renewed fervour.

"Explain."

"There's been a few times, over the years, when we've encountered this kind of static noise before. The first time, Charlie and I thought it was a one-off thing. But this form of static noise isn't an irregularity. It's part of a pattern."

"A pattern?" asked Alex.

Charlie nodded. "Yes, Alex. When it comes to inter-dimensional signals, especially into universes we've never come into contact before or those that we rarely come into contact with, the link between our world and theirs is…let's just say it's patchy. Because of that we've tuned our scanners to prioritise sound transmissions first; stabilise that particular connection before moving on to a video link, even though we send in camera probes and sound probes at the same time."

Van sighed, just loudly enough to get Charlie's attention but still soft enough to mask his growing frustration. "It's common protocol, Charlie, but it doesn't explain anything."

"Dad, calm down. Let Uncle Charlie explain, okay? Rushing things isn't gonna help us see Mom and Ashley anytime soon," Alex reasoned, fighting down his father's protests. "I want to see them as much as you do, but running in without knowing anything isn't helping anything."

Mid-protest, Van quieted down and took a seat, shaking his head as he smiled at his son. He'd won this round. "Okay. You're right, we need to know what we're getting into. Sorry Charlie, Lisa."

"Thanks, but you're not wrong to get tensed up, bro. This static; it's the distorted noise of explosions. Big, noisy ones, and lots of them. And I hate to say this, but every single time we encountered this kind of static, we'd end up scrambling quick response teams. Preventer-level teams."

Now he had gotten their attention. A quiet aura, equal parts anger and resolve, radiated from the three. Jamie was the one who spoke. "Only Warlock-led Chaos Legion incursions require Preventer response, Uncle Charlie."

"Exactly."

"Establish the video-link please. As fast as possible."

The Fanell siblings looked at each other, nodding before continuing their work.

"Yes, ma'am."

* * *

**Universe 3576: New York**

"Mom!" Ashley yelled in vain as she saw her mother flung away again by the scarred man. She looked around, terrified, for anyone who could help her. Tim Drake, Red Robin, was still battling a wave of the vicious suited zombie soldiers that the scarred man had summoned. Thanks to the force-field shielding his body, he was the only one out of the heroes still uninjured, but he had taken a few hard knocks, and his Shield-Gen was starting to sputter. Dick Grayson, Nightwing, wasn't faring much better. Blood threatened to break free from the bandage that was staunching a deep gash on his right arm. His son Carter, the young hero Talon, lay unconscious by the side, having taken the brunt of a shockwave attack whilst trying to protect his mother Barbara. Tim's son Jack, the teen hero Redhawk, fought side by side with Alexandria Wayne, aka Nightingale, both fighting hard to protect Carter and Barbara despite their own injuries.

Ashley turned to see the scarred man standing over her mother, Karen trying to crawl over to her as she sat there frozen in fear. He glanced at Ashley and, grinning, delivered a swift kick to Karen's side, causing her to scream in agony. "MOM!"

Scar turned to face Ashley now, advancing towards her slowly. **"Well now, you're a disappointment, kid. I can't believe you're the daughter of Power Woman and Van Fanell."**

"You – you know my father?"

He cackled. **"Know him? I HATE him. Your whole family? I hate every single one of you. But you know what, girl? There's a great big difference between you and the rest of your family,"** he said as he grabbed her by the collar of her blouse, lifting her up straight into the air. **"Let me educate you on what exactly it is."**

He slammed her against a wall, pinning her against it with a blade composed of shadow that he drove through her shoulder. She screamed in pain. He took a few steps back while removing his cloak, his arms apart, as he displayed his scars angrily to her.

**"You see these two right here?"** he asked, pointing to two small burn marks on his right shoulder. **"Your mother gave them to me, seventeen years ago. Heat vision. Burned clean through."**

He pointed next to the left side of his face, burn scars all over it. **"This? Your big sister! Fireball to the face, and I didn't even see it coming! And the kid was only four too!"**

Finally he gestured to the long slash scar on the front of his body. **"Now, this. This was given to me by your father. He took issue with me trying to kill you and your mother, so he sliced me up but good. I sent him, your sister and your brother away, broke up your cute little family, but even that bit of good news couldn't get rid of the pain. IT TOOK A DAMN YEAR TO HEAL!"**

Just as he quickly he composed himself. **"And then we come to you. Half-Kryptonian, magic potential by the bucketloads like your siblings and father, and no will to use it. Not even to 'protect' your mother. A few half-hearted punches and you sit there mewing for your mother. And therein lies the difference between you and the rest of your family."**

**"You're weak."**

He punched her hard in the solar plexus.

**"Useless."**

Once more.

**"Nothing but a coward."**

And another.

**"You're not worth the life-essence I've spent beating you up. So you can just stay there, and watch me kill your mother. You can watch me kill your friends the superheroes. You can watch me kill every man, woman and child stupid enough to still be here. And then you can watch me leave, knowing that you did nothing."**

As he walked away from her crumpled figure, he turned to face her one last time, letting out a chuckle. **"So, yeah. Happy Birthday."**

From where she lay, Karen Starr-Fanell could feel nothing but hatred for the monster that was abusing her daughter. Ashley was strong, and her potential eclipsed that of the other Kryptonians on Earth. But growing up without a father, and with a mother who had been emotionally withdrawn from her for almost five years, had taken a strong toll on her self-esteem. By the time Karen had gotten over the pain of being separated from Van and the kids, she had realized too late the fact that her younger daughter was socially withdrawn, and painfully shy. If not for Alex Wayne and Jack Drake, Ashley might not have grown up without friends. Thanks to them, Ashley had found a brother and a sister. She had been recovering. And now this monster was tearing down whatever progress she'd made. She watched as Scar turned, suddenly in front of Ashley again.

**"Sorry kid. I guess I wasn't done yet. Having too much fun here," **he said as he beat her repeatedly. **"After all, it's your birthday, isn't it? Gotta give you your presents. We've got the party started, all the guests are he – RARRGH!"**

He turned just in time for Karen to blast him with her heat vision. Despite the pain, she found the energy for a weak smirk, noticing that the twin blasts had pierced through the same two points from 17 years ago. She knew it hurt him. Good. She wanted to pay him back. Karen Starr-Fanell faced her daughter, her hands cupping the girl's face. If she noticed Tim, Dick, their sons and the other heroes present looking on in shock at her recovery, she ignored them. She looked straight in her daughter's eyes, trying to catch the fading spark of resolve and hope in them.

"Don't give up, Ashley. He doesn't know how strong you are. He doesn't know how strong you are, here."

Ashley looked down at her mother's finger, pointed straight at her heart.

"Maybe you don't know it either, but I do. I know how much you wished your father, brother and sister were here. I know how much you wished I had been there for you for those first five years. But I know that that didn't stop you from living your life the best you could. I know you took care of me when I was a wreck as well. But I'm okay now, and so are you. Because we have them."

Karen gestured to Tim and Jack Drake, gestured in the direction of Alex Wayne, Dick, Barbara and Carter Grayson, in the direction of all the heroes who fought on, trying their hardest to reach both mother and daughter. "We have friends. We have family. We have each other."

The spark in her daughter's eyes flickered back.

**"Shut up, Kryptonian bitch!" **Scar yelled as he flew straight at them. He was greeted by a solid haymaker from Ashley Fanell, sending him flying. Karen smiled proudly. She grabbed Ashley's hand, gripping it firmly.

"Together."

* * *

**Universe 1566: Mithril HQ (Tech Division Room 0)**

"Got it!" yelled Sam Fanell as he finished keying in a final series of commands on his keypad. "Filtering sound input…now!"

There was no mistaking the sound of explosions, the terrified screams that rent the air. Though static still flooded the holo-screen, the Fanells could see it in their minds. Death. Destruction. Parents looking everywhere for their children. Bystanders caught in the crossfire. Emergency services blocked by the damage caused, unable to reach people in time.

At some point, Van Fanell had clenched his fist in anger so hard that his nails had cut through skin. A tiny trickle of blood dripped down his hand, unnoticed. "Brian," he managed to get out through gritted teeth. "How long until a clear picture?"

"Two minutes, sir."

"Charlie. How long until the pathway is fully operational?"

"Five minutes, if you're intending to jump right in. But I have to warn you. Our original plan was to just establish a stable connection, see if we could get into contact with Tim and arrange a meeting. We weren't even planning a jump in," warned Charlie. "A rushed job like this, we can only afford to send in three at the most, and that's pushing it, to be honest. Even then, jumping through might close up the portal temporarily; if the three of you go, there's a chance you guys wouldn't be able to return for weeks, at least not until we fix up the connection again," warned Charlie.

"If Mom and Ashley are in danger, it's a chance we'll take. Even if they're not, well, we've sworn ourselves to stop any Chaos Legion action, haven't we?" asked Jamie in turn.

Van nodded, agreeing with his daughter. "Do it. Set up a warp portal for us three to jump through. Jammy, Alex, gear up. Back here in five."

But Jamie and Alex were already halfway out the door, sprinting to the armoury where their weapons were kept inside their own personal vaults. Van nodded to his siblings before running off in the other direction to his office where he kept his own gear.

Five minutes later, the three returned to see their family members staring, horrified, at the destruction now displayed on the holoscreen. The Fanell siblings had managed to establish a video display. What they were seeing was the stuff of nightmares.

Bodies lay motionless on the ground while police officers, shielding them, fired vainly at the marauding Cursed Zombies. Fires blazed everywhere, occasionally erupting into tiny explosions. The blue summer sky was dotted with clumps of thick black smoke hanging over it like a disease. The screaming seemed never-ending. Her hands over her mouth, Lisa let out a soft sob as they looked at a boy, about five or so, crying over his parents' fallen forms. He seemed unaware of the Cursed Demon stalking towards him, its claws slicked with human blood.

* * *

**Universe 3576: New York**

But hope remained. Two beams of intense heat vision speared through each leg, causing the Demon to collapse. An imposing figure in blue and red zipped down from the skies, carrying the boy and his injured but still alive family away. The shocked Zombie did not even have time to register the explosive batarang that suddenly found itself embedded in its forehead. There was an explosion.

The Demon's headless body fell to the ground, black ooze spraying from its wound as Superman and Batman landed easily. "Things look bad, Clark," said Batman grimly as he surveyed the damage.

"Enough to make us both come out of retirement, eh, Bruce?"

"We're semi-retired, Clark. But yes, it's that bad. Diana's cleaning up a section downtown, Barry and Hal were with her. Damian's on his way, I assume Conner is as well?"

An older Clark Kent, his temples greying, nodded. "Superman is bringing Wonder Woman with him as well. As I understand it, they left their daughter to take care of things in their part of town. Jonathan's on his way as well."

"We need to get to Karen. Shortly before Red Robin's communicator went silent, he informed us that the Chaos Legion forces seemed focused on Power Woman and Power Girl," said Batman.

"You're worried for Tim and Dick."

"Adopted or not, they're still MY sons. Jack Drake and Carter Grayson are MY grandsons. I will not stand by and see my family hurt. Even if it means becoming a bat again."

* * *

**Universe 1566: Mithril Tech Division (Room 0)**

"I found Karen and Ashley. Bringing it up on screen now."

The holoscreen switched displays to a building courtyard, completely devastated by the sudden Legion attack. Zooming in, the camera focused on a familiar disfigured man standing over the injured form of a blonde woman.

Alex hissed in sudden anger. "Scar! He's the one in charge?"

The camera then panned back a distance away, revealing an injured girl, of Alex's age, crawling in pain towards the fallen woman. The girl's golden hair, very like that of the woman, was dirtied by the rubble and dust thrown up by the battle. Scar, sneering at the girl, turned to kick the woman in her gut, laughing as he did so. The girl screamed, and tried to crawl faster to the woman.

"Van…"

The Commander just stood there staring at the screen, specifically at the woman as she glared at Scar, slowly and defiantly pushing herself up.

It was her. Still beautiful. Still meeting head-on the obstacles that blocked her path. He had read up on her before he, Ken and Kyle had leapt through the portal to the Universe all those years ago. Karen Starr aka Kara Zor-L had fascinated him. A young woman who had lost her world and family before finding a new one, only to have it ripped from her away again. A young woman, who at times stumbled through office politics, blundered through corporate warfare but still steered her company to great success. And she'd done it all by herself.

He had fallen in love with Karen because of her smile, her beauty, her confidence and strength. But what he had loved most about her had been the fire in her eyes. And now, even when faced with almost certain death, her friends and teammates unable to help, that fire was still burning.

It was weakened. But he could still see it in her eyes.

He stared at the display for a few more seconds before turning away, walking to the warp portal arc's control panel. He keyed in a few commands. A soft whirring ensued, followed by mechanical grumbling as the arc stirred back to life, tentatively reaching out to the lost dimension once more. The pathway was unstable and flickered unsteadily, but it was there.

While Van and his children had gone to get ready, Brian had mobilized his younger siblings into action. Ken and Ally had left the room to prepare supplies which would hopefully be sent through later. Charlie threw a small pouch to Alex, who caught it easily. "Give it to Karen and Ashley. They're gonna need it."

Mithril Commander Van Fanell nodded, before turning to his daughter, Lieutenant-Commander Jamie Fanell and his son, Lieutenant Alex Fanell.

"We're going."

Without waiting, he jumped through the portal, his hand already reaching out to grip the sword slung on his back, his gun ready in its holster. The two siblings took a deep breath before jumping in after their father.

* * *

**Universe 3576: New York**

Though victory seemed to be in the Chaos Legion's hands, the world's heroes were doing their utmost to prevent it from happening. The incursion was only occurring in New York; no other major city had been targeted. New York's finest worked hand in hand tirelessly to put out fires and evacuate citizens while its heroes did their best to keep the battle from spilling over to the residential areas. Power Woman's words had given them renewed strength, and it was beginning to show. They had a foothold in the battle in their favour, and slowly the heroes were building up momentum to repel the tide.

Even so, the battle was still going badly for them. Every fallen enemy was replaced by two new ones. The heroes were weakening. Help was coming, but it was too far away. Ashley struggled hard, her hands vainly trying to pry away a Cursed Demon's fingers wrapped tight around her neck as it bashed her into a wall again and again.

Scar was now observing from a distance, the scowl on his face intensifying. Someone needed to be made an example of. If he was going to properly establish himself as a threat, as a worthy candidate for the empty post of War-General, then a more…drastic move needed to be made.

**_Karen Starr-Fanell. You'll do._**

Ashley had escaped the Demon's grasp, and was now fighting back to back with her mother, slowly whittling down the repeated waves of attackers Scar had thrown at them. Both were hurt, but not too badly. A few hopeful rays of sunlight had managed to poke through the clouds of dust and earth thrown up during the battle, and both mother and daughter had made sure to fight where the light hit the ground, so as to maintain their strength.

However, both were completely unprepared when Scar materialized behind Karen, hooking his arm around her neck and flinging her headfirst into a collapsed building wall, 50 metres away. **"She's mine."**

The Cursed Zombies and Demons nodded their acquiescence, proceeding en masse to swarm Ashley. "Hang on Ashley!" Tim yelled as he and Jack swung down towards her, both throwing shock batarangs at their enemies. The attack opened up a small space between Ashley and her attackers, and both father and son leapt in to defend her from further attacks. The small space between the throng of Zombies and Demons gave the girl a view of her mother fighting hard against Scar.

"I gotta get to Mom!" yelled Ashley in panic as she shoved her way past Tim and Jack, taking to the air once again. She blasted her enemies with heat vision before swooping down to grab a fallen lamppost. She cried out in anger as she flew straight for Scar, swatting aside any fool Demon in her way with her weapon.

**"Finally managed to find some guts, eh? Good."**

The moment she had gotten within a hundred metres of him, Scar threw Karen on the ground, turning to face Ashley. The long diagonal scar on his body glowed a dark red, and a long black sword materialized in his hand, its jagged blade dripping dark energy that trickled to the ground like blood. He withdrew a black crystalline spike, pulsing with energy, from inside his cloak, and gripped it firmly as he leapt over Ashley's attack, grabbing her.

**"Won't do you any good, though, now that I've decided to make it personal."**

He uttered a few words in an unearthly, inhuman language and stabbed the ground with the crystalline spike. An energy field erupted from the spike, the colour resembling muddy blood. The wall of energy slammed everyone else away from it, trapping both Karen and Ashley in a domed force-field. Scar's shadow energy pooled over the ground within the force-field, and Cursed Zombies began to rise from it, advancing towards the girl.

Jack Drake was the first to recover, and he immediately charged at it, bashing the force-field repeatedly with his staff to no avail. "What the hell is this – Ashley! Hang on! We're coming!"

A clawed fist drove out of the force-field's wall and punched Jack, sending the young man crashing against his father painfully. He looked up to see the hooded man waggling a finger at him.

**"Too bad, kid. It's a private celebration, which is why I rigged this force-field with a DNA filter. Only people who're related to these two by blood can enter or exit easily. Maybe, just maybe, if you have a shitload of explosives with you…you may be able to break the shield."**

Fresh waves of Cursed Zombies and Demons appeared before the heroes, summoned by Scar. Some combined into new monstrosities while others stayed as they were. However, all started advancing towards Karen and Ashley's would-be rescuers, and they let out a hideous, blood-curdling scream as they suddenly leapt towards the world's heroes. Even amid all the chaos, Tim could still hear Scar's chuckle.

**"…provided, of course, you're still alive at the end of this. Now, if you'll excuse me…I have a few surprises in store for these two."**

But the surprise was for Scar. Out of nowhere, there was a sudden burst of intense blue-white light from Tim's Shield-Gen bracelet and the ring hanging on Karen's neck, stronger than ever despite the low charge on Tim's Shield-Gen. The light blinded the Warlord and his cronies, and all cried out in pain as they staggered away from it. Tim stared at his Shield-Gen in shock as a pleasant, if somewhat robotic, female voice chimed from his bracelet and Karen's wedding ring.

_It can't be. _

_"Alert: Active warp portal detected. Preventers inbound."_

_IT CAN'T BE._

Scar seemed to have frozen in shock as well. The Zombies, without his direction, were aimlessly wandering around. Karen and Ashley were staring at Karen's ring as well. Slowly Karen touched the small but exquisite diamond set into the ring, and a final burst of light, the brightest one yet, burst from it.

_Shield-Gen activated._

**"No…NO!" **yelled Scar as he whirled on Karen and Ashley, only to be sent flying by a blast of heat vision from Karen. He hit the wall of his force-field hard, falling to the ground in an ungraceful heap. As he got up to charge at them, he was buffeted by arctic breath from both mother and daughter, slowing him down in a field of ice that grew rapidly as it enveloped him.

**"I WILL NOT BE DENIED, DO YOU FUCKING HEAR ME?!"**

Scar burst out of the ice straight at Karen. He swatted away an attacking Ashley and grabbed her mother by the neck, pinning her against a shadow construct that sprouted from the ground beneath.

Tim heard the sound of footsteps in the distance. Someone was coming.

Scar pressed Karen hard against the construct, choking her, his hatred fuelling unnatural strength that pushed back the Shield-Gen's energy enveloping her. The long wicked scar that her husband had inflicted upon him glowed red once more, and the black jagged sword appeared again in his hand. There was a kind of desperate strength in Scar, as if he was racing against time to kill his two captives.

He raised his sword arm. Two flashes of white sped past Tim. And everything changed.

* * *

**Universe 3576: New York**

"HEY SCAR!"

A young woman in a white and brown combat outfit raced past the Zombies, her sword flashing as she cut down those blocking her path. A younger man, just barely out of his teens, was close behind, the sleeves of his white lab coat rolled up to just below his sleeves, revealing a pair of armoured fingerless gauntlets. Both had eyes for only one target: Scar.

To the shock of the injured heroes around them, the two ran straight into the impenetrable force-field that Scar had invoked. Both split up, the girl heading for Karen and Scar while the boy ran towards the Zombies shambling towards Ashley.

He leapt at them, punching hard with a strength that only Kryptonians were capable of, and swiftly took out the small group. She flung a fireball at Scar with her left hand, following up with a quick burst of gunfire from her weapon which had impossibly transformed from a sword into a gun. She quickly transformed the weapon into a sword again, lashing out at Scar in quick, sharp strikes that sent him leaping backwards. The distraction was all the girl needed to channel flame energy into her weapon, now a gun again, and fire repeatedly at the crystalline spike that had created the force-field, destroying it.

The force-field was down. The young man and woman stood protectively in front of both Ashley and Karen, the girl's gun pointed squarely at Scar, who was seething in rage.

"Get away from our mother and sister."


	3. Chapter 3: Fight Back

**Universe 3576: New York**

"Get away from our mother and sister."

The girl standing in front of Karen Starr, aka Power Woman, seemed to be in her late teens, maybe early twenties. She was tall for her age, slightly taller than Ashley. Dark golden hair that fell in waves was held together by a loose ponytail. Her combat outfit was professional, a brown combat tunic and skirt under a sleeveless white overcoat, the slight bulges under it indicative of armour plating. She had an athlete's body, but seemed oblivious to her own subtle femininity. A red cape had been attached to the outfit at her left shoulder, the exact style with which Karen wore her own. Lines engraved into the pauldron on her left shoulder glowed in different mystic colours. Her combat boots were well-worn and she wore fingerless combat gloves; the right one was worn over a black armguard that extended all the way to her elbow. Her strange weapon was glowing.

The young man, her brother going by the resemblance, was of Ashley's height. Tousled black hair framed a calm face, but his mouth was currently set in a determined frown as he stared down Scar. He was dressed like a practicing doctor, the large white lab coat hanging comfortably over a sturdy and muscular frame. Under the coat, the boy wore a casual outfit of a black shirt, over a black tee, maroon slacks and sneakers. The only thing missing was a stethoscope. It was clear from the boy's stance though, that he could handle himself in a fight. The sleeves of the coat were rolled up to just below his elbows, and the fingerless armoured gauntlets that he wore glowed serenely.

Karen stared at the backs of the two newcomers in shock, her mind going over and over the young woman's words. She had strength for nothing else but to listen and to see. She focused her super-hearing. Two separate heartbeats, the rhythm of the beats calm and steady. The sound of their breathing was relaxed. Nothing to hide. Nothing to lie about.

The boy went over to her, lifting her arm under his shoulder as he helped her to where Ashley was. He took out two small metallic discs from a tiny pouch in one of his coat's pockets, attaching them to Karen and Ashley's costumes. "Shield-Gen on. Heal mode."

The same white-blue energy that had leapt out from Karen's wedding ring now dispersed from the discs, covering the two. The energy spread in tiny ripples, like gentle waves from a pebble thrown into a pond. They looked up in surprise as their bodies began filling up with a renewed strength. The energy wasn't just protecting them, it was also healing them. The boy smiled. "New tech. We've made some changes from 17 years ago, Mom."

"Alex!" called the older girl. "Take care of Mom and Ashley. I got this."

"You need backup, Jammy?"

She turned briefly, a quick smile flashing across her face as she glanced at Karen and Ashley, her eyes reassuring. "Just make sure they rest up. I got this."

Karen gasped involuntarily. She remembered those eyes. Eyes that had spoken of kindness and potential. Eyes that crinkled in happiness, each time she had picked up the girl in her arms. This was truly her daughter. This was truly her son. "Jamie…Alex…it's really you. And Van…your father; he did it, didn't he? He repaired the warp pathway."

**"If you think I'm just going to let you sit here and talk -"**

Jamie engaged him in battle before he could continue ranting. "Yeah have fun, Scar!" called out Alex before he turned back to his mother and sister. He beamed at Karen in response to her question. "Yeah. He did it, Mom. Dad did it." He squeezed her hand once before turning his attention to Ashley.

"Hi, sis."

All through her life, as she sat on the sidelines of life, looking on at her friends as she took care of her mother, Ashley Fanell had wondered what life would be like if her twin brother had been physically there with her. And yet, even separated worlds apart for 17 years, that famed connection between twins couldn't be vanquished. There were times when she had felt happy for no reason, times when there were unexplained twinges, phantom pain on certain occasions. In a world where it was just her and her mother, those occasions had reminded her that she still had family.

And now they were here.

Alex was now fidgeting with a second device that he had just taken out from his pocket. Pressing a few buttons, he planted it into the ground. He then took a step back as another force field leapt out from it in the shape of a cube. He turned to his mother and sister. "Stay here until you're both healed up, although I'd prefer it if you stayed until the fight's over. But I totally understand if you'd want to hit Scar some, so feel free to exit the shield if you're itching for payback. The force-field's one-way; you can go out but not in."

"You're going?"

Alex nodded. "This is Scar we're talking about. He's dangerous, and he's always been a major threat to our family. Besides," he chirped as he turned to face the advancing Legion forces, "…can't let Jammy have all the fun."

"See ya later!" Alex ran out of the tiny force-field, barrelling past two Cursed Zombies foolish enough to try and block him, before leaping at Scar, his right arm pulled back. Jamie swatted away Scar's attack and glided to the side, and her brother's right hook sent Scar flying into his Zombies. He responded with a barrage of dark energy bolts, but the two siblings kept charging at him, the bolts bouncing off their Shield-Gens.

Karen and Ashley in the meantime were leaning against each other as they rested, each willing their bodies to recover and heal faster. The strange energy emitted by the device that Alex had activated was helping, but it wasn't fast enough, and Karen worried that Scar may have had a few other tricks up his sleeve.

Tim watched, astonished, as all the attacking Cursed Demons in the area broke away from their original targets and massed towards the two new arrivals. The light from his old Shield-Gen device was still pulsating even though it should have ran out of power, and a second light was peeking out from the same utility pouch he had kept it in. He took out the old communication earpiece he had used as a young Mithril Preventer, activating it as he put it on. The light emitting from the commlink, as his former colleagues had called it, disappeared. The same pleasant female voice spoke in his ear.

_Recognised: Preventer Timothy Jackson Drake. Commlink OS updating. Mithril personnel database updating._

"Priority instructions. Update Preventer database; focus on current Mithril combatants. Status on warp portal link. Update OS and general database."

Tim pressed a small button on the commlink, and a tiny mouthpiece unfolded and extended from it, while a holographic screen covered his eyes, feeding him information. Jack Drake looked on, open-mouthed, as his father continued giving instructions. The other heroes were making their way to the both of them. "Speaker on. Identify Mithril combatants; specify blood relations," Tim said.

_Mithril Preventer database updated. Identifying: Lieutenant-Commander Jamie Fanell. Elemental mage. Swordswoman. Half-Kryptonian. Preventer Division Head. Known blood relations: Alex Fanell, younger brother. Keith Van Fanell, father. Karen Starr-Fanell, mother. Ashley Fanell, younger sister._

He ignored the collective gasp from the heroes around him. "Continue."

_Identifying: Lieutenant Alex Fanell. Healer. Hand-to-hand combat specialist. Half-Krytonian. Preventer Combat Medic. Known blood relations: Jamie Fanell, elder sister. Keith Van Fanell, father. Karen Starr-Fanell, mother. Ashley Fanell, twin sister._

"No way," said Supergirl, "Ashley has a twin brother? What exactly happened?"

"Dad?" asked Jack.

Tim sighed. "It was 17 years ago, on this exact same day. We were in the middle of birthday celebrations for the three of them. They were all born on the same day, but three years apart. Their father Van was from a different universe, classified as Universe 1566; ours is known as 3576. Scar attacked. He and his brethren had had a long-standing feud against Van's family, and he intended to destroy Van's family in turn by any means possible. He attacked with a smaller force; we outnumbered him, we would have beaten him, but he came prepared."

He gazed at the battle, at Jamie and Alex, now grown-up. "Scar attacked the three kids, Jamie, Ashley and Alex, but it was a distraction. He used some kind of technology on Van and whoever came from Universe 1566, and disrupted the warp portal energies that linked our two worlds, in effect banishing Van back to his home universe forever. We were there Jack, along with your mom. But when they attacked the both of you, it was all I could do protect you guys. In the confusion, the kids were separated. Van went for Jamie and Alex, Karen protecting Ashley."

"It was at that moment that Scar activated his curse. Van was sucked back into Universe 1566 as a result, along with the two kids. Scar was beaten, but he had gotten his revenge. Karen and Ashley were forever separated from their family. Or so we thought."

Van had done it. Like Karen, Tim was sure that Van would find a way to reunite his family. He stood up slowly in spite of the pain, the cuts and bruises. He would do everything in his power to make it happen. Van, Karen and their children deserved that much. Dick flashed a grin at his adopted brother and did the same. There was a whoosh in the air as Superman and Wonder Woman descended from the skies, followed closely behind by Superwoman.

"Conner, Cassie, Kara," said Tim as he nodded to them. "Thanks for joining us."

Conner grinned. "Wouldn't miss it for the world. Is that them?"

"Jamie and Alex, yeah. I can't reach Mithril HQ though, the warp portal link must still be unstable, just enough for the two of them to get through."

Cassie Kent, Wonder Woman, frowned. "Scar's going to pull the same thing as last time then, disrupting the link permanently."

"Yeah. Which is why we need to back those two up."

Kara Zor-El, Superwoman, had been observing the battle as she helped Redhawk and Talon up. "Looks like Karen and Ashley had the same idea."

Within the tiny force-field that Alex had set up, Karen was standing under her own power now as she watched her daughter and son attack Scar's forces relentlessly. They seemed to be having no problems as before, but the Warlock's forces were focused on the two siblings now, and the pressure against them was steadily increasing. A group of about 30 Cursed Zombies merged together, the disgusting pile of ectoplasmic flesh then splitting up into four Cursed Demons. The four leapt at Alex and Jamie, two of them going around their flanks. Without hesitation, Power Woman and Power Girl flew straight out of the shield, towards the Demons. Jamie and Alex pivoted to either side, bringing them face to face with the flankers, their mother and sister suddenly occupying the empty space where they stood. The four Fanells were now lined up in a row, each with a Demon as his or her opponent.

"Hit 'em!" cried Karen.

There was a loud battlecry from the family as four simultaneous uppercuts connected with each Demon, sending the four flying. They were quickly vaporised by heat vision blasts from the Fanells.

Scar growled as he took in the scene.

**"Fine. Then I kill the whole family today. Works for me. But aren't you missing your daddy, kids? Aren't you missing your sweetie-pie hubby, Power Woman?"**

The pleasant robotic voice chimed again, loud enough for everyone to hear.

_Warp portal status: Active. Unstable._

_Alert: Preventer inbound. Mithril Commander Keith Van Fanell en route._

It was hard for Tim Drake to keep the grin off his face. "Go get 'em, boss."

And he was off, sprinting back into the fight as best as he could, ignoring his injuries and followed closely by the others.

* * *

**Universe 1566: Mithril HQ**

There was a satisfied smirk on each of the Fanell siblings' faces as they watched the tide of the battle turn in their favour. Alex and Jamie's entrance had galvanised the heroes, and they were giving as good as they got, pushing back Scar and the Chaos Legion. There was a ping from Brian's commlink.

"Brian, it's Ken. I've got Will working on the spheres, and Emma's helping him. Ally's working on a crate of her own spheres. How's it going on your end?"

"Like Charlie predicted, the warp portal link fizzed out after Van and the kids went in. He and Lisa are working on it. They're saying we might be able to send in one more, but it's going to take a few hours. Plus there's no knowing what's going to happen after that," replied Brian.

Ally's voice came on the line, joining the conversation. "Brian, if it's ok with you, I'd like to go in. There'll be a lot of casualties after the battle, and the hospitals will be flooded. I can help out with medical care for the metas, especially Karen and Ashley."

"What about the healing spheres you're making?"

"Mom's here, she's helping out."

Brian nodded to himself. "Ok, but don't tire yourself out. Ken, contact Matt. See if he and Mike can spare some time to help Will and Emma with Will's healing spheres. I'll round up the rest of the Preventers and brief them on the situation; put them on standby."

He then turned to his younger brother. "Sam, how far is Van from the battle?"

"2 klicks away. For some reason, the warp portal dumped him about 4 kilometres away from Karen and Ashley, while Jamie and Ashley were dropped closer. It worked out though, he landed smack in the middle of a small Legion incursion. He took them out and he's making his way there ASAP."

"HAH!" yelled Charlie in exultation. He looked up from his work terminal and flashed a thumbs-up sign to his brother-in-law. "Communications are re-established! We can reach Jamie and Alex, and Tim's old commlink is activated as well, patching you through to the three of them!"

* * *

**Universe 3576: New York**

Tim Drake smiled grimly as he heard an old friend's voice through his commlink. "Tim, this is Brian. We've patched in your commlink with Jamie's and Alex's. Do you read me?" He dodged an attack, pivoting around the Demon and aiming a hard swing at the back of its knees. The impact left it disoriented enough for Superwoman to cauterize an arm off and Superman to grab it by its remaining limb and slam it into the ground. Wonder Woman flew just ahead of the retaliating force, her lasso whipping in and out, capturing Legion Zombie after Legion Zombie and flinging them into nearby buildings.

"Loud and clear, Brian."

"Gotta hand it to you guys, you staved off Scar's goons well. Three waves of Legion forces so far, and it looks like he's starting to wobble. Time for us to gain the upper hand."

Tim swung his staff like a bat, swatting away two Zombies. "What's your plan?"

"What's yours?" asked Brian in return.

"Well, since the Legion's aggression is on Karen and her kids, keep it there. We'll work our way in from the edges, picking them off one by one."

Brian grunted in agreement. "Exactly what we were thinking ourselves. Ok Jamie, Alex, you heard it. Keep their attention on the two of you, especially Scar. Your dad will probably be gunning for him, so keep Scar distracted enough for Van to hit him hard. Van should be about three minutes away from your position. Alex, keep an eye out for your mom and Ashley too. And Tim, watch out for yourselves too man."

"You got it."

Tim Drake and his fellow heroes could not help but sneak awestruck glances at the Fanells as they fought. Jamie and Alex Fanell never fought far from their mother and sister, always doubling back to cover them even as they pushed back Scar's forces. Between Jamie's swift strikes and Alex's healing, Karen and Ashley were almost back to fighting strength. The true spectacle, however, was in the way the four Fanells clicked so well in combat, despite their complete lack of experience fighting together.

Jamie nimbly stepped aside from a thrust by a burly Demon, grabbed its outstretched arm and threw it over her shoulder to where Alex was waiting. His right arm extended, his eyes closed, Alex clotheslined the Demon as he continued chanting a spell softly. Green energy collected in two small bubbles in his left hand. The spell complete, Alex's eyes snapped open, and he leapt a few steps back, heat vision bursting from his eyes in two short blasts at two Zombies which had been leaping at him. The blasts sheared off the Zombies' legs, and Ashley was quick to follow up, grabbing both of the Zombies and spinning before flinging them away, one at a time, like a discus. Alex nodded his thanks to his twin before flicking each energy ball in two directions, where Tim and Dick were each battling Legion forces in their respective groups. A quick snap of his fingers, and the bubbles burst into healing mist over both groups.

A demonic rhinoceros came barrelling towards Jamie, bellowing in rage. She coolly stood her ground, icy mist and flame impossibly crackling together around the muzzle of her weapon. It barked out eight times in quick succession, the first four shots ice bullets that snap-froze the Demon's front knees. The next four bullets were imbued with elemental flame, crushing the weakened joints with casual ease. Power Woman landed in between her daughter and the now-stumbling Demon, letting out a cry as she pulled back her right fist in an uppercut. The Demon was sent flying upwards; Ashley and Jamie finished the job with their heat vision.

They were winning. For the first time since the fight had started, victory was a possibility now, not just wishful thinking. That knowledge gave the heroes strength, and the civilians, safely evacuated but still able to witness the battle, were beginning to cheer them on. Scar would have to pull out something big to have his revenge on the Fanells.

His cry of rage tore through the chaos of the battlefield, and everyone stopped to turn to the disturbance. By force of will, Zombies and Demons alike were either rushing to gather near him or being sucked towards him. The same black glow that had appeared earlier was back, and there was a disgusting medley of groans, screams and squelching noises as he began absorbing all the Demons into him.

Faced with the horrifying sight before her, Ashley couldn't help but take a few steps backward. Every instinct in her screamed at her to run away. This was nothing like she had ever faced before. Her feet shuffling against the dirt as she backed away from the transforming Scar, Ashley was only slightly aware of someone landing behind her.

"Some birthday huh, sis?" remarked Alex as he stood side by side with his twin sister. His lab coat was still pristine white, any dirt or blood from the battle repelled by the magical enchantments on it. His grin was a bit forced, and he grimaced as he cast a glance at Scar, but he stood ready beside his sister.

"Is he always like this?"

Alex chuckled. "Not all the time. Don't get me wrong, Scar's always been one of the more 'hands-on' of the Legion heads, but he rarely gets this unscrewed." He shook his head, shuddering. "Those were pretty bad encounters, though."

Karen landed behind her twins, her eyes still glowing faintly from her last burst of heat vision. "Was your father around?"

"Always. I dunno, Dad just rubs Scar the wrong way," Alex said drily. "I can't be too sure of course, but maybe that sword wound has something to do with it. They do have a history, after all."

Ashley grinned in spite of her fatigue. "So Scar really hates Father?"

"They are never gonna be best friends. It's a shame really; Dad really had his heart set on a sleepover."

"He's not a big fan of Mom, either," said Jamie as she appeared at Ashley's left side, flicking her sword to remove any ectoplasmic gunk on it. "Never shuts up about those two holes on his shoulder."

Scar had finished absorbing the rest of his Legion forces. He was a three-storey tall monstrosity now, a behemoth from something out of a nightmare. He had kept most of his original appearance, that of a topless and heavily-scarred humanoid. The absorption of his fellows had not been thorough, however, and hands, feet, faces and other assorted limbs dotted his entire body. The scars on his body were glowing a dark bloody purple. He was like a beast now, roaring mindlessly and rampaging around the area.

"Man. Jamie and I have fought Scar a lot of times, but that is a first; and that is _nasty_," Alex grimaced as he observed some of the limbs still twitching.

Tim and his comrades had reached the Fanells. He shook Jamie's hand, keeping a wary eye on Scar as he did so. "Miss Fanell, Mr Fanell, I'm Tim Drake, aka Red Robin. I worked with your dad a long time ago. I was there when Scar attacked 17 years ago…but this is – let's just say I've never seen anything like this. The heroes your age; they've never went up against something like him either. So if you have any information to share, it'd be most welcome."

Jamie nodded. "Scars on his body are all caused by previous attacks against him, and he's able to recreate those attacks to use against his enemies. If a particular wound was caused by a burning slash, for example, he can summon a flaming blade for a short while. As long as the scar glows, he can use that attack."

"As for his current form, don't get in close if you can help it, the extra limbs probably aren't for show. Stick to ranged attacks if possible. He probably has defences for single and multiple attacks, but multiple attacks should at least keep him occupied and increase our chances of getting in a hit," she continued.

"Incoming!" shouted Nightwing, pointing at the advancing Scar.

Jamie's blade glowed blue as she ran towards the Warlock, and she slashed upwards, summoning a series of ice spikes that burst out of the ground at Scar. She then leapt straight up towards Power Girl above her. Ashley grabbed her sister by the wrist, spinning in mid-air once before she flung Jamie upwards straight at Scar.

Scar roared in anger, swinging a gigantic fist at Jamie. 4 high-tension rope lines snaked up from the ground, looping themselves around his arms. Nightwing and his son Talon pulled hard on his right arm, while Red Robin and Redhawk pulled hard on his left. Assisted by both Superman and Wonder Woman, they quickly secured the lines to the ground with Batarangs before leaping back, flinging explosive Batarangs at Scar's vital spots. The Supers and the Wonders came next. They blitzed him all at once, using their super-speed to deliver devastating attacks, all the while weaving in and out of the appendages that struggled in vain to capture them. "He's breaking out of the ropes!" yelled Tim. Sure enough, the ropes were straining; one was just beginning to snap.

Freeze breath buffeted Scar from every direction until he had frozen in his tracks. The heroes backed away from him, getting ready for the next wave of attacks. The Kryptonians' eyes glowed red. Tim, Dick and Carter reached in their belts for their last few Batarangs. Jack pressed a hidden button on his staff, charging its tip with electricity. Cracks were beginning to appear in the ice surrounding Scar.

**"RRARRGH!"**

"Simultaneous attack!" barked Tim and Dick as they flung their Batarangs at Scar before charging towards him. The Kryptonians, including Jamie and Alex, soared overhead in a tight V-formation, Karen at their lead, heat vision lancing from their eyes.

**"I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!" **screamed Scar as he lashed out in rage, swatting the heroes away with each word. Only Karen, her children and Tim remained in the fight, and they yelled in desperation as they ran towards him once more. A strange magical glow was emanating from each of the siblings. A pinkish light enveloped Jamie as she kept running towards Scar, her gun firing. One of the hand appendages protruding from his abdomen abruptly extended towards her, its fingers sprouting claws that dripped acid. She vaulted over it and into a roll before leaping up again, the weapon now her sword. A flash of light later, the appendage was cut off.

But before it had dropped to the floor, Alex had grabbed it. The green glow that his body was emanating was concentrated mainly around his gauntlets. He scampered up Scar's enormous torso, leaping up high and using the giant clawed limb as a two-handed weapon, raking Scar with it repeatedly. He noted with grim satisfaction that the Warlock screamed in pain as the acid seeped into his old and new scars.

Ashley didn't give him time to recover. She fired heat blast after heat blast from her eyes, the heat vision laced with the golden energy that now covered her, every burst of heat vision stronger than any she had ever created before. It was a good thing that civilians had been evacuated, as each blast simply burnt through whatever it hit, including Scar. Where it hadn't punctured through, Ashley's heat vision left tiny smoking craters. She flew straight at him, greeting the incoming giant hand with freeze breath. She twisted in mid-air, burning Scar's frozen hand off before grabbing it with both hands and slapping him hard with his own hand. She gave the same chilly treatment to his other hand, this time kicking it hard enough for it to snap it off. Abruptly she broke off her attack and flew straight up, giving Karen the opening she needed to kick him in the nose before punching him in the kisser.

A lone appendage extended from Scar, capturing Karen in its grasp. "Agh…dammit…"

"Mom!"

Scar sighed in satisfaction. **"You have no idea what pleasure it gives me to crush you. This was a long time in coming."**

"So was this."


	4. Chapter 4: Reunion

**Universe 3576: New York**

There was a flicker of blinding bright light, like light suddenly being turned on in an empty dark room. The limb grabbing Karen seemed to float briefly in the air, so fast the slice had been. A tall figure in black grabbed her before Scar could react. Gently and quickly setting her on the ground, the figure had enough time for a kiss on her forehead before he flickered out of sight again. Gunshots rang out, and bullets laced with elemental energies peppered Scar's body. Smoking burns riddled the Warlock's body, while other wounds were ringed with tiny icicles. Lightning crackled over others. The voice appeared again, a man's voice, familiar and strangely comforting to Ashley for reasons unknown.

"Not yet. We're not done yet. Not until we properly kick his ass."

A man stood in front of the group, his broad back to them, black coat billowing in the breeze. He twirled his gun once, smoothly sliding it into its holster with his left hand while his right reached behind for his sword, its scabbard slung from his back. As he drew it out of its scabbard, flame flowed from his hand into its blade, and the warmth from the flames radiated gently towards the heroes behind.

Ashley was the closest to the man, and she turned to the others behind her. The warmth of the flame was clearly having an effect on the heroes. She looked, from the admiration and respect on Tim Drake's face, to the reassured faces of her siblings that all would be well, to the undisguised joy and love on her mother's face. They knew that back, had probably seen it countless times as its owner stood between them and whatever harm they had been facing.

**"Van Fanell."**

Keith Van Fanell said nothing, only smiled quietly in reply as the flame in his sword intensified.

**"Come to save your family?"**

Quick as a flash, he leapt at Scar, the downward strike a feint for the upward thrust that grazed the behemoth's cheek, leaving a nasty burnt slash. Van landed in front of the group again, the quiet smile still on his face.

"Come to reunite with them."

**"I've hurt them, abused them."**

The quiet smile was now tinged with pride as Van looked over at his family. "They're still standing. They know how to take care of themselves."

Scar snarled as he pawed at the fresh wound, fighting hard to keep the hate out of his voice. **"You're seriously telling me you're not worried about them? I am here to kill them."**

"Doesn't seem like you're doing a good job of it."

The Warlock smiled suddenly; shadow tendrils burst out of the ground, wrapping themselves around Van's family and Tim Drake. Tiny spikes, oozing with acidic slime, burst out of the ends of the tendrils, and other tendrils slithered menacingly in front of their faces. **"I beg to differ. If they move, they die. Your weapons, on the floor. Now."**

Van stabbed his sword into the ground in front of him, placing his gun beside it. Only Karen noticed the water trickling from the ground under the sword, forming the tiniest stream leading to the tendrils.

**"Your bracelet too. The key to summoning the Blades of the Heir."**

Van did so, but made no further move. The stream of water had reached the tendrils, splitting up and flowing on the tendrils keeping Karen, Tim and the kids captive, still unnoticed by Scar. Karen focused her superhuman hearing; there was no mistaking the sound of ice crackling as the tendrils began to freeze over slowly.

**"Very good! So will you leave those there and take a step back?"**

In reply, Van snorted out a laugh and placed his hand back on the hilt of his sword. "I'm not letting you have these."

** "Oh?" **Scar turned to Karen and the kids, jerking his head at them. **"Then you're abandoning your family?"**

"Not really," said Van coolly. "You're going to return my family back to me."

No one could miss the flicker of hatred that passed over Scar's face. **"Listen, Fanell," **he growled. **"Trying to obtain something without giving up something else is impossible. It doesn't work in this world."**

Nostalgia flooded into both Karen and Tim as they saw the familiar stubborn arrogance in Van's face as he spoke in reply, annoyed and determined to have his way. "Like I care. I will take everything I want with my own hands. That means that, as of right now, I intend to take back my wife and my children. I'm getting Tim out from your ridiculous tendril. And I'm going to wipe the ground with your face doing it."

**"You couldn't do it by yourself."**

Try as she might, Karen couldn't keep the grin off her face as she watched the quiet smile on Van's face turn into a smirk.

"We'll see."

Ashley couldn't believe what she was hearing. She turned to her mother beside her. "That's Dad?"

"That's the man I married," replied Karen, beaming.

The spikes on the tendril had frozen, as well as the acid dripping from them. Quick bursts of heat vision from Power Woman made short work of them, and she used her super strength to break out of the tendrils.

Her children were quick to follow suit, with the twins breaking Tim out as well. Van grabbed his weapons and bracelet and ripped out his sword from the ground, slashing at the Warlock. He abruptly broke off his attack dodging to the left, avoiding Karen's blast of heat vision in the nick of time.

"Sorry!"

Van shrugged. "I guess it's been a while, eh?"

Glyphs began to appear on the ground, Cursed Zombies and Demons rising from them. Scar was the one summoning them, but he was clearly on his last legs. This was the chance they had been waiting for. "Alex, how's Tim?"

"We gotta pull Mr Drake out of the fight, Dad! He's not in fighting shape!"

Van growled as he blocked an attack from above with his sword, firing point-blank at his attacker. "Get him back to the other heroes and put a Field-Gen on the whole lot! We'll finish this!"

"Got it! C'mon Mr Drake!" exclaimed Alex as he pulled Tim to his feet, supporting the superhero with his arm. He healed Red Robin as they moved to where Tim's friends were clustered, Jamie covering their retreat. Their parents and Ashley were fighting the Legion forces now, Van drawing most of the attention. Sword and gun lashed out relentlessly, and the Zombies were dropping like flies now as the Mithril Commander battled them.

Two Demons engaged him, their clawed hands slashing blurs. He dodged them easily, weaving to the right and to the left, waiting for an opening. He found it a second later, slapping aside the first Demon's raking claws with his gun before slashing it in half. The second Demon received a hard kick to its stomach for its troubles. Stumbling backwards, the unfortunate Demon never registered Karen hooking its neck with her arm from behind and slamming it onto the ground. She finished it off with a quick punch through its face.

Van and Karen then blasted the three Zombies ganging up on their younger daughter about ten metres away, destroying two of them. Ashley nodded in thanks before turning back to her opponent. Her uppercut connected, sending the Zombie up into the air.

Only for her twin brother to flying kick it back to the ground in a crumpled heap, where it ungraciously collapsed into a pile of ectoplasmic goop. She stared at him, mouth open.

"What?"

She shook her head in disbelief and bemusement. "I've just never seen people fight like that. It's so ridiculous. And you guys are doing it like it's second nature."

Alex shrugged. "Well, we did grow up fighting like this. And Dad did teach us most of his tricks."

"This is the craziest birthday I've ever had."

Alex only grinned as he lobbed the ball of healing energy that he had just created at his parents; the energy bursting out of it like a grenade.

"But it's turning out to be the best one ever."

His grin grew wider. He placed his hand on his sister's shoulder, sharing a bit of his energy with her.

"Except for the entertainment though. I think I've had enough of them for the day."

He laughed out loud at this last remark. "I'm with you on that one."

Scar's loud roar shook across the area, the anger in his voice clear. The twins nodded to each other, and leapt into the air, flying straight towards the rampaging Warlock. Scar had now shrank back to his original form, unable to maintain his monstrous appearance given the strain of constantly summoning fresh new fodder to attack the Fanells. Their attacks had hurt him greatly too, and though the five family members each sported injuries, they had repaid the favour in spades.

Karen was standing at the head of the line, flanked by Van and their children. The Shield-Gen device that Alex had attached to her costume was sputtering uselessly, its charge having run out a few minutes ago. Ashley's temporary Shield-Gen had also given out, and the coloured auras that had covered her and her siblings were gone.

Scar stood facing them, his shoulders hunched, his head drooping. His cloak and hood had reappeared, and all they could see of his face was a desperate manic smile. It reminded Van of Scar's progenitor Razorpoint. Van's face betrayed no emotion, but Karen noticed him gripping his weapons tighter. Her eyes flickered to her children.

They were all here; the four people who mattered most in her life. She had waited for this day, hoping against hope, optimistic one day and despairing the next. The life that she had dreamed of, the family that she rebuilt after losing Kal-L and Lois all those years ago, everything she had ever wanted was here. There was no way in hell she was going to lose it all over again.

The Warlock was chuckling, the laughter raising every hair on her neck. He was staring at Ashley. That same dark blood-red light was enveloping him. His scars were glowing. The burn marks on his shoulder, from her mother's heat vision all those years ago, were glowing. His eyes were too.

The burn scar that a four-year old Jamie had given him was glowing, and a ball of dark flame was coalescing in his hand.

The long slash wound that Van had inflicted on him 17 years ago was glowing, and the long, black jagged sword appeared in his other hand, viscous blood-red goo dripping from the edge.

Van and Jamie were channelling elemental energy into their weapons. "Get ready."

Without warning, Scar leapt at them, moving at an unbelievable speed. The five dodged his blast of heat vision, moving into position to try and surround him. Alex was in front of him now, and the Warlock made ready to throw his deadly projectile. The young medic stood his ground, clapping his hands once. "Shield-Gen, Reroute! 50, hands!"

The glow from his Shield-Gen dimmed instantly, and half of the forcefield energy covering his body flowed to gather in his hands. He gritted his teeth as the fireball sped towards him.

"BARRIER!"

He moved his hands in a spreading-out motion, and the Shield-Gen energy pooling in his hands burst forth into a rectangular barrier, the light of the forcefield blindingly bright. The fireball struck his barrier hard, its unnatural heat slowly breaking the barrier down. "Jamie!"

His elder sister was there, parrying away Scar's strike and preventing him from following up on his earlier attack. She growled as she fought back, the force of her attacks pushing the Warlock back. Van appeared beside Jamie, and father and daughter fought Scar in earnest. The two slowly forced him backwards, aided by Karen who harassed him from above with short bursts of heat vision.

Scar summoned a second blade, but even that was not enough to stop both Van and Jamie. The two both parried his attacks to the sides, giving Ashley the opening she needed to plow head-on into him. "How does it feel to be on the receiving end, Scar?" she snarled.

She kept up her pummelling, kicking him into a damaged store. He staggered out, his wounds too severe for him to keep up the fighting. Ashley stood alone by herself, the rest of her family making their way to the two of them. He looked at her, the hatred on his face barely disguised.

**"So you're not as useless as you seemed. Good. It will make killing you in the future all the more pleasurable."**

There was a sudden manic smile on his face; only Karen caught it.

**"…should you live, that is."**

A black portal appeared behind Scar his last Cursed Demon jumped straight out of the building's roof. As it hung momentarily in mid-air, the Demon's mouth opened impossibly wide, and there was a shrill humming in the air as it prepared to blast the young woman. Jamie and Van opened fire on the Demon, destroying it, but not before it had fired a single spear of dark blood-red light at Ashley.

Too stunned to move, Ashley did not notice her mother pushing her out of the way. What she did notice was Scar smirking as he limped backwards into his portal, just as the energy blast from his last Demon stabbed through Karen's gut.

"Ah."

She slumped to the ground facedown, the blood pooling rapidly around her.

"MOM!"


	5. Chapter 5: Respite

**Universe 3576: New York (Dr Mid-Nite's Medical Facility)**

Dark. It was still dark outside, she knew that much. But her hearing picked up faint chirping; the first calls of the morning. Dawn was here. Her eyes were leaden weights, comfortably closed. She was tempted to go back to sleep, to return to her rest. But a small insistent part of her nudged at her to at least open her eyes. And so she did.

Sunlight had begun to filter in through the drapes of the hospital room, but there was still a comfortable darkness in the room. Even so, the few rays of sunlight were enough to hurt her eyes such that she wasn't able to open them fully. Slowly she propped herself up, leaning against her pillows. As her eyes gradually got used to the light, Karen Starr smiled gently at the sight before her.

Ashley's chair was on the right side of her bed. In her slumber, the girl had slumped so far forward that her upper body was resting on the mattress, her head tilted towards her mother. Her hands were close to Karen's, her fingers almost brushing against her mother's. Ashley murmured something before she continued to sleep, a small smile on her face.

Karen turned to her left. Jamie's sleeping position mirrored that of her younger sister's, but one hand continued to grip her weapon loosely even as the other moved to rest on Karen's hand. The frown on her face was loosening, and the hand resting on Karen's seemed to be resisting the impulse to grab hold of it, as if she was afraid of letting go. With a little difficulty, Karen leaned forward to stroke her daughter's hair, and the young woman relaxed noticeably.

She then turned her attention to the younger of her twins, barely stifling a laugh as she did so. Alex was slouched sideways in the armchair placed in front of her bed, his head lolling backwards as he snored. A tiny trickle of drool had dried on the left side of his face, from his lip all the way to his chin. She took a closer look. The young man was still wearing his lab coat, and sometime after she had lost consciousness he had managed to find a stethoscope. His right hand was still holding the clipboard with her medical records. The pages were crumpled from repeated flipping over. Karen smiled again; her son no doubt had tried to make sure that she received the best possible care, the way any good doctor would.

One more person left. He wasn't in the room. But he was near. She could feel it. A longing in her heart and body; to be reunited with her missing half, the man that she loved. Her gaze for some reason was drawn to the balcony outside her room. The glass doors leading outside were closed except for a tiny gap, and the drapes had been drawn to keep the light out, but Karen saw something as the drapes billowed gently in the early morning breeze. A sword in its scabbard, leaning against the wooden railing.

With some difficulty, she focused her x-ray vision. Van was there, dozing fitfully as he stood leaning against the wall, his arms crossed. He had taken off his black coat, hanging it on a chair nearby. His gun was still in its holster on his left hip, his sword was within easy reach, and she noticed that Van had positioned himself such that he would easily be able to detect and dispatch any hostile intruder from outside. Her hand went to her locket necklace, to the wedding ring that hung from the chain.

She had missed him. It was the truth. He had been her best friend, her partner in battle, and her confidant. They knew everything about each other. She remembered, happily, the quiet nights they had spent chatting over coffee after putting the kids to bed, Karen leaning against Van as they talked about nothing and everything. And now he was back.

There was a small mirror on her bedside table. She picked it up, studying her reflection intently. Both her neck and forehead were bandaged up, and her face was dotted here and there with band aids. She'd seen worse before. But something was out of place in the reflection. She couldn't make any sense of it. The smile that her reflection wore was too…happy. It barely restrained any joy within. She just wanted to laugh and stay in this place for as long as she could. She realized it was unfamiliar, almost foreign, to her. But she also realized that she had missed that smile on her face.

There was a knock on her door, quiet enough that it didn't wake the kids up. Ally Fanell popped her head in. "How are you feeling, Karen?"

Karen beamed on seeing her sister-in-law's face. "Ally!"

Ally returned her sister's greeting. "It's good to see you're feeling better," she said as she picked her way through her nephew and nieces crowded around the bed. She sighed. "I told them to go home and get some rest first," she said, shaking her head in resignation. "Van's outside, isn't he?"

"Yes. He hasn't been standing there the whole night has he?"

Ally snorted. "I wouldn't put it past him. He's just as bad as them."

"Sorry about the whole trouble."

"It's ok. Tim told me the four of them flat-out refused to leave your side after Green Lantern and Superman brought you here, especially since your condition was really bad. I got here just in time; it's a good thing Lisa and Charlie managed to squeeze out one more jump from the warp portal arc before we got disconnected again."

Ally couldn't stop herself. She went over to her big sister, leaning over and hugging her tightly. "We thought we'd lost you."

* * *

**Universe 3576: New York (after the battle)**

"MOM!"

Van and his children sprinted over to the fallen Karen, sliding to a stop. She was on the verge of losing consciousness, and was bleeding heavily. The two Preventers and their father went to work immediately, their movements practiced and sure. Jamie and her father slid out bandages from waterproof capsules, doing what they could to staunch some of the lesser bleeding. Alex was softly chanting a magical incantation. A trickle of water snaked out of the ground, cleaning his dirtied gloves which were glowing green once again. A second stream of water swirled around his mother's stomach wound, the worst of them all.

"Alex? What's going on?" asked Ashley.

"Standard Mithril healing protocol for large, life-threatening wounds like this. Direct infusion of healing energy. The water's used to cleanse the wound area, and we'll channel its energy to numb the pain, like a natural anaesthetic. Dad, Jammy, take over the water manipulation, you guys are better at it than me. Ashley, keep Mom awake," the young medic said as he quickly wolfed down an energy bar. The sudden gleam of his gloves was an indication of his restored energy, and he went to work, healing his mother's wound. But it wasn't enough.

He swore. "Dammit. My energy's still down from the fight. What we could use is a healing tank; or a sphere at least. If only Will was here…"

Clark Kent, Superman, landed from above a few seconds later, followed shortly by his generation of heroes, Diana Wayne, Barry Allen, Arthur Curry, Hal Jordan and Bruce Wayne, who rode down a zipline from his Batplane. "The Justice League is on its way. Van, is your family alright?"

_Alert: Warp portal activated. Mithril Medical Division Head inbound._

A woman in her late thirties dropped out of a warp portal behind Ashley, her long brown hair fluttering in the wind. She resembled Ashley's father; her aunt perhaps. The woman quickly tied her hair in a bun as she walked purposefully towards them, her hands giving off a glow reminiscent to the ones Ashley and her siblings had been displaying earlier. She nodded to Van as she approached them, offering a reassuring smile to the kids as well.

"I'll take it from here, Alex. You need to take care of the other wounded."

"Aunt Ally…"

A holographic screen appeared above her watch, and she keyed in a few commands.

_Medical Division personnel acknowledged. Division Head: Lieutenant-Commander Allison Fanell. Standby for delivery._

A second war portal, almost as big as the one the woman had come through from appeared a few metres of the floor, and a large metal container marked 'Med Division' dropped down from it with a loud thud. Alex keyed in a password, and the container opened up, revealing five separate compartments, each containing numerous glowing spheres of varied colours. The spheres in the middle compartment glowed a deep blue, the bright light visible even with the dark cloth that lay covering them. There was a note on the cloth.

_Hope this helps, Alex. Will._

Alex exhaled softly, relief evident in his smile. "Thanks, cuz." He scooped up spheres from the compartments except the middle one, dumping them all into a bag that had been included with the spheres. The Preventer medic then ran to where Tim Drake and the rest of the injured heroes were.

Ally was talking to Superman and the others now, their conversation urgent as she gave them recommendations on how best to proceed. "I agree, Dr Mid-Nite's facilities will be the best place to treat Karen, but she's lost too much blood that it's not safe to carry her there in her current condition, Batman."

"What do you need?" asked Green Lantern.

"Clean water, enough to fill a bathtub, and a container to hold it all in. It doesn't have to be pure water; tap water will do just fine, but it needs to be clean," Ally said as she took out two healing spheres, one green and the other pink, from the container, passing each to Jamie and Van who wordlessly pressed them onto Karen's wounds. The energy of the spheres did their job, and the bleeding slowed down as the spheres began to shrink. Father and daughter grimaced as Karen groaned in pain but both kept up the pressure.

Hal Jordan, Green Lantern 2814.1, nodded as he concentrated in thought. His construct, a long pipe with a filter in the middle, snaked towards a burst fire hydrant a few metres away, one end clamping down and screwing itself onto the hydrant. Water flowed through the pipe into his second construct, a plain but sturdy rectangular box. Once the construct was three-quarters full with water, Superman was up next. His heat vision superheated the water in an instant. He blew at it softly with his arctic breath, just enough to cool the water without freezing it. Ally tested the water's temperature with a finger, and nodded. Slowly, Jamie and Ashley lowered their mother into the water, all but submerging her head.

Thanks to the healing spheres that Ally had brought along with her, Karen's major wounds had almost closed up. Blood still seeped out from them though, and her face was deathly pale. Ally went to the container holding the healing spheres, reaching in the middle compartment for one of the blue spheres. She winced and pulled back her hand, her other hand rubbing her eyes from the sudden burst of intense light that had hit her the moment she drew back the dark cloth. "That kid really went all out…"

A handkerchief wrapped around the sphere to mute the bright light, she slid the sphere into the water, uttering an incantation as she did so. The sphere glowed one final time before dissolving in blue swirls. The effect was immediate to see. Karen gasped, her eyes shooting wide open, and she jerked once in the water before sinking back into the water. Whatever blood that had seeped into the water seemed to be flowing back into her wounds, which were themselves closing rapidly until her skin was unmarked. The colour was returning to her face, and her body relaxed as Karen fell into unconsciousness. Ally exhaled, relieved. "She's going to be fine. Just needs some rest."

The six older heroes were staring, a mixture of shock and amazement plastered on their faces. Ally smiled as she busied herself with her patient, checking Karen's temperature and other vital signs. "We've learned a lot about how we can use healing energy, and which elements are most compatible with it. Water has the most healing potential out of the elements, but we've never been able to make any real progress with it in our healing techniques until the kids started learning the family business."

"The kids?" asked Batman.

"Our children. The children of the Seals and Mithril's Preventers. With the exception of Van and Brian, most of us learned how to utilize our powers over time. But the kids, they grew up with their powers. There's a difference. Things that seemed new to us in the past are innate to them. But I'm getting ahead of myself. We need to focus on the wounded. The spheres that Alex took should be enough to heal Tim and the rest, at least enough to get them to somewhere they can get medical attention. We need to distribute the rest of these to the hospitals in the area; the wounded civilians will need them."

She nodded in thanks to Wonder Woman as the older woman closed the container, lifting it up easily. "Except for those blue ones, all the spheres can be applied directly to wounds."

Underneath his cowl, Bruce Wayne frowned. "What's wrong with the blue ones?"

"They were created by a Seal, based on the water element which has the strongest and most immediate effect on injuries. Long story short – they're too strong. Applying one directly to Karen, in her condition, may have killed her, to say nothing of what might have happened if we'd applied one directly to a normal human. The best way to use these would be to thin the effects."

He nodded. "Understood. What are your recommendations?"

Ally frowned as she grappled with the question. "A healing tank similar to the one Karen's in now would be best, but we have more wounded than spheres, so save those for the really severe ones. Most of the civilians would have minor to moderate injuries…"

She looked up, a sudden idea flashing in her eyes. "Dilute about a quarter of the water healing spheres in large amounts of water, and distribute the water to the wounded to drink. The energised water will be able to speed up the natural healing process, and simultaneously boost the immunity system. Use the rest for healing tanks."

Bruce nodded as he snapped to the leader role, giving out orders in quick succession. "Aquaman, Wonder Woman and I will distribute these healing spheres to the hospitals. Green Lantern, bring Power Woman to Dr Mid-Nite's medical facility; Superman will escort you. Flash, I need you to run a perimeter check on the battlefield. Make sure the enemy is gone, and keep a lookout for any wounded the paramedics may have missed. Once you're done, you'll join the rest of us in the distribution of these spheres."

Van walked to Superman, looking at him directly in the eye. His tone brooked no dissent. "We're coming with you, Clark."

Superman nodded at the Mithril Commander. His teammates were already heading in different directions. Aquaman followed Batman back to the Batplane, and the jet sped off after Wonder Woman who had already flown ahead. All by herself now, Allison Fanell's gaze followed the departing heroes until they had disappeared from sight. "Okay. Time to get to work."

Without hesitation, she ran over to her nephew who was still busy healing the wounded heroes.

* * *

**Universe 3576: New York (Now)**

"We thought we'd lost you."

Karen gently pulled herself from her sister's bear hug, smiling reassuringly. "I'm fine, thanks to you and Alex."

"You look it. These guys, on the other hand…" Ally said wryly as she poked at Jamie. "Jammy, wake up. You too, Ashley. Alex, I thought you stopped drooling in your sleep _ten years _ago."

One by one, Karen's children began to stir. Their faces groggy, they looked around, all three settling on a common face. "Mom! You're awake!"

The three youths crowded around their mother, alternating between hugging her to talking non-stop, each asking about her condition. Ally let them be for a few minutes before she gently chided them. "Okay guys, that's enough, you need to let her get some rest."

"We can't just leave her here…"

"I've got Superman at the door. Wonder Woman will be by later. If all else fails, we have Batman, who still scares the living daylights out of me even at his age. Karen will be fine. She'll still be here after you three go home and get some rest, some food in you and a shower," said Ally firmly, standing her ground.

"Now shoo!" she said as she ushered out her nephew and nieces out the door. She did not close the door once they had left, however, and stood pointedly looking at the closed balcony doors, still covered by the heavy drapes. "You too, Van."

There was a heavy sigh from outside, and Van Fanell walked in, his coat slung over his right shoulder, his left hand carrying his gear. "I'm not going anywhere."

"We talked about this, bro. You may be the head honcho, but in the hospital, I'm the boss. Now scram."

His face was set in a stubborn, unyielding frown. "And if I say no?"

Ally's face mirrored his own. "You do realize I trained under Haruno Sakura for a while right?"

The Commander was ready with his own retort when Karen interrupted him. "I'll be fine Van. She's right; you need some rest. I'm not going anywhere, I'll still be here when you come by later."

He growled, frustrated. "I don't need rest," he said as he walked over to her. "I just need to be here to make sure you're okay."

"Need to?"

"I want to be here and make sure you're gonna be okay. Need, want, they're both the same to me."

She looked him in the eye steadily, the look on her face conveying gratitude and affection at the same time. She placed her hand on his. "I'll be fine. Get some rest first."

Van Fanell was not happy, but he knew when he was beaten. "Alright," he sighed, "the kids and I will be by to visit later."

She squeezed his hand once; he smiled down at her. He leaned in for a kiss, but stopped, hesitated. Squeezing her hand one last time, he walked out the door, one final glance at her before he left.

Ally looked at Karen's downcast face, the same one that Van wore just before he left, and frowned. She went to the drapes, pulling them back to let the sun in. "Is there anything I can do for you, Karen?"

"I think…I'd just like to sit and talk with you…until they come back."

"Sure. What about?"

"The whole coming back thing, as much as you can tell me. As far as I know, Scar set a curse that banished you all back to Universe 1566, at the same time destroying the warp portal link between Universe 1566 and 3576. You shouldn't have been able to come back…"

Ally chuckled. "Tell that to that stone-headed idiot Van. Two years after the incident, he gathered all of us. Mom, Dad, Brian and the others, the Seals as well. He'd been doing research on his own into warp portal technology; found a way to maybe reverse the process. Turns out the link between our worlds wasn't destroyed, but only disrupted. He told us that he wanted us to focus on finding out how to restore a disrupted portal connection. He was upfront about it, told us that it was true that he was personally invested in it. He wanted to return to you. But even if we couldn't restore the link we wanted, we could try and prevent something like this from ever happening again. Prevent families from being broken up again."

Ally smiled. "Dad made him the new Mithril Commander the very next day, said he was ready." She paused, turning her head slightly towards the door, before breaking out into a knowing smile. "I know you can hear us, Superman, even though you're trying to be polite and not eavesdrop, so you might as well come in and listen. You too, Batman, you're not fooling me."

The two older heroes walked in grinning, Batman removing his cowl as he did so. They were followed shortly after by Wonder Woman, who closed the door behind her. The three grabbed a chair each, sitting down around Karen's bed.

"Where was I? Oh yeah, Van's promotion and the project behind it. He swore us to secrecy, whoever was in that room with us. He knew he had an organization to run, but he made it clear that this project took precedence over all else. Heh. It's not like anyone was against it."

"What do you mean?" Diana asked .

"This project was never one we slaved over. All of us involved, especially us siblings, were 100% behind Van, and we put in a lot of effort over the years to make it happen. We didn't care how long it took, or what obstacles we had to face. We just wanted you back," said Ally plainly as she turned to look at Karen.

"We missed you, Karen. We loved you, and we still do. It hurt Van and the kids the most, but it also tore us really badly that we'd lost you. You were our big sister, someone who belonged in our family, and we never thought of you as anything less than that. Mom and Dad, too. You were their daughter, plain and simple, and they made it adamantly clear to people who asked about the possibility of Van remarrying that you and Van were meant to be together."

Clark Kent's eyebrows rose. "Remarrying? Why would that be an issue?"

Ally sighed. "Because of our family bloodline. All we know about our family legacy is of Mithril, which was started by our great-great grandfather, and that the Fanell family has a very strong and unique magical bloodline. Over the years though, especially once Van had taken over, our reputation had increased, and people came to us from worlds we had never heard of, all claiming to have heard of the Fanells, telling us more about our family's history."

"Most magical bloodlines tend to be specific; a flame mage's child will be a flame mage and so on. There are exceptions, but they tend to be individuals with no magical potential at all. The Fanells are different. We have the ability to inherit, to possess, to learn, to master any form of magic, despite our parents' specialization. Dad is a water mage, Mom is a healer. Van excels in all four magical elements, but he's not as strong as Brian when it comes to flame magic. Ken was the Seal of Lightning, and even now his lightning powers are still very formidable. Lisa specializes in shielding magic, Sam's an energy manipulator and I'm a healer. You see where I'm coming from? Fanells are born as blank slates. Powerful, magical blank slates. Any child who has the Fanell bloodline will be strong, and that's why Van was in demand again."

Ally poured herself a glass of water, taking a sip before she continued. "Advisors from all the inter-dimensional peacekeeping forces were courting us when they heard that Mithril's new Commander was separated from his wife. They didn't care about the circumstances, they just knew that the former most eligible bachelor was eligible again. The fact that Van was a loving father to two adorable children only sweetened the deal."

"How did they take it?" asked Karen nervously.

"Mom and Dad? Brian and the rest? Van?" asked Ally in return. She smiled nastily. "Very badly. We had to send Ken, our most polite negotiator, to tell them to piss off, in much nicer language of course, and even then Ken was really trying his best not to throttle them."

Her audience broke up laughing, breaking the tension that had built up in the room. The relief and gratitude on Karen's face was evident. Chuckling, Ally took a moment before she carried on. "The buggers were persistent, though, and we had to be polite, so Van very reluctantly agreed to a few arranged dates. Daughters of other magical families, heir apparents of allied peacekeeping organizations and so on. Dad was completely against it, as were the rest of us. Mom broke down very reluctantly after about a year of intense wheedling, and even then she dragged her feet when assisting in arranging the dates."

"What about Van?" asked Bruce, leaning forward in his chair, his hands clasped.

Ally grinned. "No deal unless both Jamie and Alex came along. The three of them were always together, and he refused to be apart from them. The kids were the ones who settled things, you could say. Try as they might, the dates never managed to click with the two kids, and with Van never making any real effort, in five dates in as many years, everyone got the message. Van Fanell was only in love with one woman: Karen Starr of Universe 3576."

Everyone was staring at Karen now, as a tear trickled down her face. Her heart was about to burst in joy, and she was fighting a losing battle trying to keep a silly smile of her face. Clark beamed at the woman he'd always considered as his cousin, alongside Kara. Diana was grinning too, as her hand clasped Bruce's. The latter's smile was a small one, but warm and genuine, a rare sight.

"To be honest, I've never seen Jamie open up emotionally to any other woman other than family, including Cassie and Rachel. She's the eldest grandchild and the next in line to be Mithril Commander; not only that, she grew up without a mother so she had to grow up fast. That's not to say she's antisocial, but she's more the stoic sort, you know? Seeing her just now, worrying and fussing about you, it's a welcome sight I haven't seen in a long time. It's safe to say that the kids miss you as well, Karen."

Karen was fidgeting with the ring strung on her necklace, a niggling worry still on her mind. "Does Van still love me?"

Ally smiled reassuringly. "He never stopped. I'm sure of this."

Karen flashed back to a few minutes earlier, when the man she loved hesitated, and walked away. Ally picked up on this. She sighed. "17 years is a long time. That idiot knows that things can change, people can change. His feelings for you haven't. He was just worried that yours might have. That's why he did what he did. He didn't want to do anything that might make you feel uncomfortable. Give him a chance, Karen."

She stood up. "I'm going to check up on Tim and the rest." She went to her sister-in-law, hugging her again. "I'll say it one more time. We love you. He loves you. All you need to do is rest, and remember that. Bye, sis."


	6. Chapter 6: About Us

**Universe 3576: New York (2 days later)**

"You look worse than I feel," snorted Jack Drake as he glanced over at his best friend. He was lying on the hospital bed, thumbing through various television channels with a bored look on his face. "You didn't sleep, did you?"

When she did not reply, he took a closer look at the girl. She kept staring at a broken disc the size of a watch's face, repeatedly turning it over in her fingers. He had seen his father take out an identical one out of his own utility belt. He had called it a…Shield-Gen? Something like that. He turned his attention back to the girl. Her short blonde hair fell over her eyes, giving her a vulnerable look. Jack was a smart person, second only to his cousin Alexandria Wayne, but he didn't need to be a genius to know that their best friend was dealing with a lot of emotional turmoil.

"Ashley," he said, his voice gentle. "C'mon, talk to me. You know you can do that around me. We're best friends."

"It's too much to take in," she whispered, more to herself than anything. She turned to Jack. "I don't like change. It was better before…before all this happened."

"You mean you preferred it this way. Keeping people at arm's length, just you and your mom. But did you actually like it that way?"

She kept quiet.

"Ash."

"No," she mumbled, a faint trace of guilt in her eyes. "No, you're right, it's not. But it's easier. I'm just – I'm just not good with people, you know? It's why I don't really have many friends, except for you and Alex."

They had had conversations like this before, and Jack and Alex would always get frustrated with Ashley. Because she had spent much of her childhood looking after her recovering mother, she was socially-awkward herself, and shunned contact with others, even after Karen herself had recovered from their ordeal.

"And it's too late anyway. I mean, people probably think I'm some arrogant brat who doesn't like to mix around. That's fine." She nodded, as if trying to reassure herself. "That's fine. I have you and Alex, that's enough. I don't need anybody else."

"What about your dad, then? Your older sister? _Your twin brother_?"

Her face fell; her shoulders slumped. "I don't know. I just don't know, Jack." She looked up, glancing at the clock. "I'm meeting Jamie and, uh, Alex soon to pick up Mom. She's getting discharged today."

She looked at Jack, confusion in her eyes. "What should I do, Jack?"

He met her eyes with his own steady ones. "Let them in. Or at least don't be so quick to push them away. I know they're strangers, but I saw them risking their lives for you during that battle 2 days ago. That counts for something. You can't keep people out forever. Dad tells me Grandpa Bruce used to be like that a long time ago, shutting people out. If it wasn't for Grandma…"

"The point is, it's not healthy. As for that bit about people thinking you're arrogant – let me tell you something. It's complete bull. People don't think you're some arrogant snob. Lana and the rest of the gang, they're actually concerned about you, y'know? Check my messages if you don't believe me. Lana was worried sick about you. But if you keep pushing people away, you just might succeed. And that's much worse."

Ashley just stared down at the broken Shield-Gen, but she now looked thoughtful instead of miserable. She suddenly rose up, dusting her clothes. "I gotta go. Don't want to be late."

Jack flashed her a thumbs-up. "Tell your siblings thanks for the save on that day," he said before his voice grew softer. "And think about what I said, alright?"

She nodded, still unsure. Before she walked out the door, she turned back to him, a soft smile on her face. "Thanks for being there for me," she whispered as she kissed his cheek softly, before walking out the door.

* * *

**Universe 3576: New York**

It was a very awkward walk that the three siblings endured a few hours later as they headed to Dr Mid-Nite's medical facility where Karen was currently warded. It was true that the three of them wanted to open up to one another, but they each had no idea how to go about it. While each of them may have wanted to be reunited with their family members, the fact remained that they were all strangers. Ashley walked behind her siblings as both engaged in uncomfortable small talk, the two inwardly wincing as they discussed the weather. The younger girl wondered if her father would be joining them, Van having gone to visit Tim Drake at the same hospital Jack had been warded.

"Ashley?" asked her sister, jolting the girl out of her daydreaming. "Um, I heard there's a famous florist nearby? Sherwood Florist, I think? Would it be ok if we stopped by the shop, get some flowers for Mother?"

"I – um, yeah it's this way," she mumbled as she took the next right, walking a bit faster, leaving a surprised Jamie and Alex behind her.

She wanted to be there. She didn't want to be there. Half of her wanted nothing more than to fly away, to be free to deal with the emotional maelstrom within her. She couldn't deal with it at that moment. It had always been her and her mother, just the two of them. She didn't like it that way, but she had gotten used to it. Used to being alone, used to being an observer. Used to being on the sidelines, used to leaving before people noticed she was present.

But the other half was dreaming of yesterday's dream. How, when the nightmare of the initial attack had lifted, she had fought side by side in near-perfect sync with two strangers. She dreamt of a young man with healing hands and hope in his eyes. She dreamt of a young woman with a kind smile and a blade that cut away the darkness. And she dreamt of a man with a broad back, one that stood in between her family and whatever that wanted to hurt them, protecting them.

A tiny part of Ashley's brain wished for an attack like that again, something that would bring them all together again. She shook her head, a tiny smile flickering across her face.

_What a morbid thought._

"Ashley, you okay?" Alex asked, his hand on her shoulder. Jamie was beside him, her face concerned.

She nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Whoa whoa, sorry, didn't mean to startle you, sis!" he apologized, backing away, his hands raised. "Just…it looked as if you had a lot of things on your mind. We were worried."

She brushed his hand off abruptly, instantly regretting it. "It's nothing."

He snorted. "Really? Being attacked by monsters from another dimension, seeing your mother beaten up, meeting your long-lost father and siblings, and all on your birthday? It's not nothing," he said. "It is a lot to take it all in, though."

Ashley chuckled ruefully as she sat down on a nearby bench. "It is, isn't it. This sounds idiotic but I half-wish that -"

"– the Legion would attack again, right?" her twin finished, smiling wryly. He was sitting beside her now, body leaning forward, his hands clasped.

She exhaled. "Yeah."

Ashley looked up at her siblings. "Is that wrong of me? That day was horrifying beyond any doubt; it was a nightmare. A lot of people were hurt, some of them people I know, people I love. One of them was Mom. They hurt Mom. They hurt Mom badly. I relived everything that happened yesterday at night. I couldn't sleep."

"I managed to hold on during that nightmare. And you know what happened? As the nightmare went on, the three of you appeared in the dream. The two of you. Father. You guys held them back, enough for us to recover and fight back. And we fought back. "

"You remember, don't you? How it was fighting with a complete stranger? Fighting in sync like that; it shouldn't have been possible. The three of us, we shouldn't have been able to fight together so well."

She leaned back, her eyes closed, a small smile escaping her mouth. "But we did. We defeated them. We saved Mom. And my worst nightmare became my strongest memory. Of me fighting alongside my family."

Ashley opened them, looking directly at Jamie and Alex. "All I want now, more than anything, is to relive that memory again."

The two siblings looked at each other. Something passed between them before both abruptly went to either side of Ashley, squeezing her between them with a hug. "We know, Ashley," said Jamie quietly, "we feel the same way."

"Y'know, it doesn't always have to be fighting," said Alex. "It's not as if we can only be closer as a family if we fight together."

"I know," answered his twin. "But I'm not as good at the other stuff, either. I'm not exactly what people call sociable. Shy and awkward, that's me. People have tried getting closer to me, and all I do in return is throw up walls. I can't promise I won't do the same to you guys and Dad."

Jamie smiled. "Well if it's ok with you, we'd like to try. Hopefully we'll succeed."

Her younger brother snorted. "Stoic Jammy telling people to loosen up," he teased, "that's something to see."

* * *

**Universe 3576: New York (Dr Mid-Nite's Medical Facility)**

Karen winced as she bent down to pick up the shirt that she had dropped. She looked down at the stomach wound that had almost killed her, now no more than a tiny scar. Mithril's healers knew their stuff. It was no more than a minor inconvenience at the moment, the pain a slight uncomfortable twinge, and she was confident that it would be gone the following morning. She heard the sound of the doorknob opening.

"Hey, Karen, you ready to – oh." Van managed to get out before he realized that he'd just walked in on Karen changing, clad only in her jeans and bra. He immediately backtracked, panicking, and all but slammed the door as he exited the room.

"SORRY! I, uh, SORRY!"

She blinked twice, before bursting into a fit of giggles which she tried her best to smother. He hadn't changed.

His muffled voice filtered through the door, mildly offended yet amused. "It's not funny, Karen."

It was. She had realized, back when their friendship was just blossoming, that he was not good around women, alone and away from the pressures of combat situations. He was stubborn and opinionated, downright rude at times, but underneath it all he had a vulnerable boy-next-door charm that she had delighted in bringing out. There were occasions a few months into their marriage when he had stumbled upon her changing as well, and all he did was to stammer his way deeper into the hole he was digging.

She smirked. Of course, on those occasions she had also been more than happy to show him just what he was missing by staying outside. And to his credit, once he had gotten used to the whole situation, he was more than happy to learn.

_But that was 17 years ago._

She shook her head violently, careful of not falling into that particular trap. She repeated Ally's words to her over and over again. Van still loved her. Van was still in love with her.

"It's ok to come in, Van!" she called.

He came in, his blushing face not what you'd expect from the head of a premier peacekeeping organization. He moved stiffly, as if aware of some unspoken decorum. His eyes looked at anywhere but her own. She noticed too that he avoided looking at her chest area. She smirked. At least he hid it better.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked, not bothering to hide his concern. He reached out to put his hand on her bandaged shoulder, his thumb unconsciously rubbing the area. "Did Ally stop by, look you over? I'll carry your bags. The kids are on their way. Batman said he'd give us a ride back to your apartment. I mean, not as Batman. Bruce; as Bruce. I think Diana's with him too. Not as Wonder Woman of course, but as Diana. You know what I mean. I hope they didn't bring the Batmobile. You look a bit pale. Are you hungry? Did you take your meds?"

She couldn't help giggling again as he rambled on non-stop, his nervousness fully in control of his tongue. She put a finger to his lips before stepping forward to embrace him, her arms around his neck, relishing the remembered feeling. He relaxed as well, his arms enveloping her as well. Both enjoyed the sensation before stepping back to regard each other, a smile on their faces.

"Sorry," Van said as he rubbed her arms with his hands, as if trying to reassure himself that she was real, that she was standing right in front of him.

"It's ok."

He chuckled. "Life-threatening injuries aside, you look great, Karen." He couldn't help staring at her face. She still looked like she did 17 years ago, although there were some worry lines on her face, adding some age to it. "Actually, you look beautiful to me."

Karen had been staring at Van's face all this while too. He still looked like he was in his mid-thirties, although she knew he was more than a decade older. He'd aged well, and she absently wondered if she still remembered what it was like to stare at his handsome face. She rubbed her hands on his stubble, looking questioningly at him.

He grinned sheepishly and shrugged. "The kids; about three, four years ago. Told me I'd look cooler with it. Their exact words were 'Stubble yes, beard no'."

She decided that Jamie and Alex knew exactly what they were talking about. Her eyes flickered down to something hidden under his t-shirt, then back to his smiling face, a questioning look in them. He pulled it out to reveal a locket necklace, the twin of her wedding ring hanging from its chain.

"Sorry, I would've worn it, but I didn't want to risk damaging it in battle, especially if I was gonna be slinging flame spells left and right. Remember we bought them in that jewellery store that Clark and Lois got their own rings? We never got around to properly enchant them to withstand magical damage. I thought it would be safer this way."

"Plus, you know," he said, his eyes twinkling, "this way I could make sure it was closer to my heart."

She couldn't help it. She burst out laughing at the sheer lameness of his statement. He seemed wounded by it. "Hey, it's not a joke."

But even Van couldn't stop himself from laughing and they held on to each other as they laughed. As the laugh winded down, Karen placed his hand on his cheek, before glancing down at her own necklace. He pulled it out, and smiled when he saw the exact same locket necklace, and the exact same ring hanging from it.

"Looks like you married someone just as corny as you, Keith."

His heart leapt in joy at her words. _Keith. _She'd called him by his first name, not the middle name that everyone else except his immediate family members called him by. Not trusting the first words that came out of his mouth, he covered her hands with his, his mind racing to think of the right words to say. They came out of his mouth slowly. "Karen."

She looked up at him.

"A lot of things have changed, haven't they?"

"Yes. They have."

"But…do we…still love each other?"

She pulled him in for the kiss he should have given her the day before. When their lips parted, she smiled. "Yes. I love you, Keith."

He pulled her back in for a second one, this time resting his forehead on hers after the kiss. "Good. Because I love you too, Karen."

Their third kiss in 17 years was the reunion that they had been waiting for. It was an unspoken conversation of pain, loneliness, despair, hope, joy, laughter. Both didn't care how long it took, just that they were finally having it.

They didn't notice Jamie peeking through the door that she had opened just a bit, smiling at the sight before her. She took care not to make any noise as she quietly closed the door, turning back to her younger brother and sister. She grinned at them.

"Let's give them some time."

* * *

**Universe 3576: New York (Karen's apartment)**

Van was glad to note that Karen had kept the apartment the couple lived in all those years ago, when the kids were still young. They had gone out and bought it the moment Van and Karen had realized they would be having twins. It was a warm and inviting home, although they all wrinkled their noses at the rotting food on the kitchen island the moment they walked in.

Karen groaned. "I must have forgotten to keep the extra food for the birthday party in the fridge."

Her boys only grinned as they swept past her, Van giving her a quick peck on her cheek as he did so, and quickly bagged up the food before dumping it in the trash chute outside.

"Jamie, you can take over your old bedroom, if you still remember where it is. We used that as a guestroom for Alex whenever she and Jack stayed over here for a sleepover," Karen said.

"Alex is a 'she'? Oh you mean Alexandria Wayne, right?"

"Yep," she replied in answer to Van's question. "Bruce and Diana's only daughter, and the baby of their family. She's a daddy's girl through and through, so definitely a spoiled princess, but she's also a valued member of the superhero community as Nightingale. But most importantly, she's one of Ashley's best friends. She's a good kid, Bruce and Diana raised her up well."

"As for Jack, you met him during the battle. Tim's kid; Redhawk. He's his father's son for sure, the smart one of the Batclan. Ashley's best friend too. Speaking of, Alex, you can take the room that Jack used during sleepovers. It was meant to be yours anyway," finished Karen.

"So we're staying?" her son asked, pointedly looking at his father.

Van's reply was to place his hand on his wife's which was resting on a counter. "Yes. I think the three of us have saved up quite a bit of vacation time, right? Might as well use it," he said, squeezing Karen's hand once. She squeezed back, an expression of tender affection on her face as she smiled at her husband.

Alex beamed. "Cool."

* * *

Dinner was takeout pizza. It passed by well, although there were hiccups. Karen was thrilled to be reunited with her family, and Jamie and Alex got on well with her. Ashley, however, was still awkward around her father, even though she had visibly thawed when around her siblings. But the same level of familiarity and comfort was not afforded to her father.

It was in the small gestures, the tiny slip-ups. It was in the way she called Van 'Father', while her siblings easily referred to Karen as 'Mom'. It was in the way she refused to meet his eyes, offering only short, abrupt answers whenever he tried to bring her into the conversation. It was in the way she suddenly got up to excuse herself from the dinner table, her apology to Karen and her siblings evident in her eyes, yet refusing to meet her father's.

She knew that if she turned back, she wouldn't be able to handle the disappointment in his eyes.

Midnight saw Karen curled up on the sofa under a blanket. Her hands held a framed photo of her and Ashley; the picture taken a year ago. She sighed as she examined her daughter's face. There was a tap on her shoulder. She looked up to see her husband standing over her, two steaming cups of coffee in his hands. She brightened up instantly. "You remembered!"

He grinned back at her. "Our habit of talking over coffee after the kids had fallen asleep? I still kept at it, though not as much once the two of them were old enough to go on missions and not need a bedtime."

"By yourself?"

"Not really," he said as he moved to the front of the couch. "I had the memories of our nights together. Scoot over."

She did as he asked, gratefully accepting the cup of coffee from him. "Here you go. Black and one sugar, just the way you like it. Unless you changed your coffee habits."

She punched him playfully on the shoulder, before leaning back against him once he had settled down on the couch. "Idiot. Of course I haven't."

Van smirked as he adjusted the large blanket so that it covered both of them. They sat quietly, enjoying each other's warm company and the warm coffee. It was Karen who spoke first.

"Be patient with Ashley, please. She had a lonely childhood. It's not easy for her to come out of her shell. Was it like that with Jamie and Alex?"

Her husband shook his head. "They had it better. The family would have regular weekend lunches, so they always saw their cousins. In fact, for about a period of four years, all the cousins lived and trained together while we prepared them for solo and off-world missions. The kids grew up together, so they're very close." He sighed. "I just wish Ashley had been there as well."

"Do you think they'll accept her as part of the family?"

He looked Karen in the eye as he smiled in reassurance. "I know they will. My younger siblings and I did not raise our kids to be people who push others away. But Ashley has to be able to accept what we want to give her."

Karen looked down, her face clouded with doubt. He squeezed her hand gently, and she looked up at him gratefully. "Don't worry, Karen. We'll get there. Together."

She nodded. "Enough about them," she said with finality as she put down both their cups and pulled him in for a long kiss. "About us…"


	7. Chapter 7: Remember That I Love You

**Universe 1566: New York (the next day)**

This wasn't the morning Ashley had wanted. She had woken up early, before the others had woken up. She needed time alone, time to think. So she'd spent it on the dark side of the moon for 3 hours, grappling with her emotions all the while. When she had finally listened to her stomach's grumbling, it was 11am. Brunch it was then.

She had barely touched down in one of the many New York alleyways, hidden from view, when the distress signal from Watchtower came in. An unknown energy signature. She had responded, but did not ask for backup. And so it was that she found herself face to face with a Doomsday clone.

_This morning just can't get any worse_.

She barely managed to get the thought out before the behemoth's fist sent her crashing into a nearby bank. As the terrified bystanders ran away from the scene, Power Girl burst from the destroyed bank, her heat vision lancing out from her eyes. She kept her distance, targeting the monster's joints with powerful blasts of heat vision. The shots did their trick, but Doomsday kept moving forward.

He roared, and leapt forward to close the distance, not caring about the fact that he would land directly on an injured teenager. Power Girl sped to where the girl was, managing to whisk her out of harm's way, but not before she was tagged by Doomsday. She gasped as she landed, almost collapsing on the girl. Her left leg was broken.

"Go," she said through gritted teeth. The girl nodded in terror and limped away as fast as she could to the waiting paramedics.

It was just her now. Her and the creature clothed in spikes. Voices fought over Ashley's commlink as Watchtower scrambled to see which hero was nearby and could provide assistance. The Justice League was unavailable. The Justice Society had their own situation as well, a three-way gang war with one of the parties involved having access to Intergang weaponry. Most of the Teen Titans had been involved in Scar's attack on the JSA Brownstone. Not all of them were injured however; Supergirl was headed to New York immediately. ETA: 5 minutes.

5 minutes was still too far though, and Ashley wasn't sure she could last. The voices in her commlink grew louder and more panicked as they tried to scramble more allies. Then there was one voice that came over the line, clear and steady, drowning out the rest. _Dad_.

"Ashley, we're headed your way. 20 seconds."

She barely had time to respond before Doomsday grabbed her by the broken leg and threw her. A fire hydrant broke her fall. She groaned in pain as she sat up. Water was gushing out of the hydrant she was leaning against in a huge fountain. Doomsday advanced towards her.

Gunshots rang out. She spotted her older sister easily leap down a 3-storey building behind Doomsday, running towards him, her gun still firing to get his attention. As she fired, she reached for something inside a pouch strapped on her left leg. She vaulted over the monster, slapping a sticky bomb on his left shoulder. She landed, pivoted gracefully to face him and hopped a few steps backward, firing a flame-imbued shot at the bomb when she had reached her younger sister. The resulting explosion was satisfyingly loud.

Without waiting, she stowed her weapon in its holster, dragging her injured sister away. She muttered a spell as she did so, and redirected the water from the hydrant into a strong jet aimed at Doomsday's face, keeping him away from them.

Footsteps, from another direction. Even dazed from her injuries, Ashley was able to make out her twin brother sprinting towards the monster, pulling on a pair of gloves as he did so.

"Now, Jamie!"

Jamie abruptly cut the water manipulation spell, at the same time Alex clapped his hands once, triggering a spell sigil on his gloves. Doomsday growled in anger, shaking his head to get rid of the water in his face. He looked up at the sound of a battlecry. His gloves now transformed into the armoured gauntlets he had worn during the battle with Scar, Alex punched Doomsday hard in the face, sending him flying parallel to the ground.

"Alex! Switch!"

Power Girl stared in amazement as both her siblings suddenly swapped places. Alex's gauntlets were glowing green once more, and he got to work healing Ashley's broken leg causing her to hiss in relief. Jamie in the meantime had suddenly appeared in the middle of the road, right in the middle of where the flying Doomsday would be. Her Kryptonian strength came in handy for her as she punted the clone ungraciously into the sky.

But what goes up must come down, and Jamie made ready for another round with Doomsday, once more taking out her weapon. Doomsday had recovered from the sudden attack by the siblings, and was now hurtling downwards towards the young woman. So focused was he on Jamie that he did not even register Van leaping off a roof and landing on his back until the Commander had driven his sword through the creature.

Ashley gawked at the sight of her father grappling with Doomsday from fifteen stories up. She remembered her twin brother's words from a few days ago, during the battle with Scar. _"Well, we did grow up fighting like this. And Dad did teach us most of his tricks."_

There was a rush of wind nearby. Power Girl turned her head to see wind swirling around her sister's blade, coalescing into a bright white coating on the blade itself. "Wind elemental energy," Alex explained as he continued healing his twin. "Its sharpening ability's nothing to sneeze at."

"Commander!" yelled Jamie as she crouched into a jumping position. "Break away!"

Van nodded, kicked Doomsday in the nose and pulled out his blade cleanly. He leapt away even as he flung a fireball at the monster. Jamie took a running start and flew straight up, slicing off the clone's head as she did so. Both father and daughter landed neatly on the ground, sheathing their weapons as they did so, around the same time Alex had just finished healing Ashley up.

"Power Girl!"

The group looked up to see Supergirl descending from above, concern on her face. "Rushed here as fast as I could. You okay?" She sighed in relief on seeing her teammate's nod before whistling at the sight before them. "Nice work with Doomsday," she said, turning away from the group momentarily. "Supergirl to Watchtower. Doomsday is neutralized," she reported.

That done, she looked at the group curiously. She'd heard that both Power Woman and Power Girl had been reunited with the rest of their family, but beyond that, she knew nothing else. Ashley smiled wanly at her, in part due to her just-healed injuries and the emotions that were still roiling inside her. "We'll save the introductions for a better time, Lana," she said quietly.

Lana nodded, and was about to turn away when she saw Ashley's outstretched hand. She glanced at the girl questioningly. "I'm sorry I've been so distant with all of you all these years, but I'm really glad you came to help me out. Can we…can we start over as friends all over again? All of us?"

She nodded, grinning as she readily accepted the handshake. "I'll let the rest of the gang know. We'll see you on the Watchtower, PG. Take care of yourself."

The young Kryptonian walked off towards the fallen clone's body, making arrangements for disposal, leaving the family of four. "Jamie, Alex, can you guys go ahead first? There's something I want to talk to Father about."

* * *

**Universe 3576: New York (later that afternoon)**

Father and daughter walked through the park, looking for a shady area they could sit down and talk. The late afternoon wind was whipping their hand in all directions. Ashley ran a hand through her hair a few times to straighten it back before giving up. Her father glanced at her in amusement. They eventually settled on a large tree on a small hill overlooking the pond. They took out their sandwiches and began eating. Van waited for his daughter to speak.

"I remember it. I don't think I was supposed to be able to. I mean, I was only one, after all. But I remember it. Everything that happened on that day."

He kept quiet, staring ahead at a young couple playing tag with their daughter.

"I know it doesn't make any sense for me to have remembered it. I checked with Alex and Jamie; Alex's memory is murky. It's the same for Jamie, she only remembers throwing that fireball at Scar's face. But I remember every single thing that happened that day."

She had finished her sandwich, and was leaning back against the tree. Her left hand was resting on the crisp grass. As she continued talking, he noticed it twitch.

"I remember you and Mom bringing all of us to this park for a birthday picnic. Uncle Tim was there too, along with Aunt Steph and Jack. And your younger brother, Uncle Ken I think. I don't know what the cake was, but it was Jamie's favourite. "

Blueberry cheesecake. It had become not just Jamie's favourite, but also his son's as well. Van had a feeling it was Ashley's favourite too.

"There was a lot of laughter. I remember Jamie trying to feed you some cake, but she ended up smearing it all over your cheek. Mom was laughing as she wiped it off, then she kissed you there. I like that particular memory a lot."

He did too. He smiled, but stopped when he glanced to his right. Her left hand was twitching a bit more frequently now.

"Then the sky suddenly got dark for no reason. All the adults, including you, shuddered. I was scared, so I began crying, and then Alex, and then Jack. Jamie was trying to be brave, but she was hugging Mom so tightly. You were carrying me, and you held on to me tighter too."

"The portal appeared out of nowhere. Scar was the first, followed by his soldiers. They attacked. You asked Uncle Tim and Aunt Steph to take care of us. But Aunt Steph was carrying Jack, and she was attacked, so Uncle Tim went to her. Mom was carrying Alex and Jamie. You were still carrying me. Uncle Ken was fighting Scar and the rest, trying to draw their attention from us."

"But Scar only wanted our family. He wanted to kill us all, I don't know why. There was an explosion, and all of us were thrown clear. I remember Jamie picking me up. She brought me to where Alex was, on the ground. She huddled us together. We were separated. Scar was standing in front of you and Mom, with that horrible long sword of his."

Her hand was shaking now. She had chosen to prevent her voice from shaking instead of her hand. Her voice quavered at times, but it remained steady.

"You and Mom were fighting him now. Uncle Ken was fighting the Zombies, and he went to help you both afterwards. Scar had these…bangles in his hand, he tagged you and Uncle Ken both with them. You couldn't get them off. Then he blasted all three of you away, and stalked over to us. You tried to go to us, but the Zombies just kept _swarming_."

"He only smirked when he reached us, like we were an easy meal. But then Jamie threw the fireball in his face. He stumbled backwards, screaming in pain, and both you and Mom tackled him to the floor. That's when you, Mom and Uncle Tim all gave him those scars."

There was no hiding the shaking in her voice now. He moved his hand to rest on his daughter's gripping it tightly, to reassure her.

"Mom was carrying me now; you had Jamie and Alex in your arms. It was a chance to regroup and escape, call for backup. But Scar didn't want that. So he pressed the trigger he took out from his pocket. The portal reappeared again, and you and Uncle Ken were suddenly being sucked into it."

She was crying now, her body shuddering with each painful memory she brought up. Van brought her close to him, arms around her, trying his best to comfort his daughter.

"The portal's energy was strange. It kept pulling you in and pushing Mom away. You and Mom were screaming for each other, reaching for each other. Mom was crying, really crying, like her heart was being wrenched out of her. You kept straining against the portal, trying to escape it. But it was too strong. The last thing I saw of you was the look of anguish on your face as you were sucked into it. And then there was just quiet. No Scar. No Zombies. Just Mom crying. Just Mom crying."

She looked up at him, tears streaked all over her face. "I was only one, but some part of me realized you were gone. I had lost my Dad. I had lost my sister, my brother. It was just me and Mom. I lost you all, and I never wanted to experience it ever again."

"And now you're back, and that means it's possible I could go back to that awful time again. If Scar attacks us again, if he succeeds, what happens then? I've relived that birthday over and over again in my nightmares. I don't want to lose my father a second time. That's why I thought if I shut you out, and if something again happened, then it wouldn't hurt as much."

"But I can't shut you out. Even if it was only one short year, I remember you. I remember that you loved me. I remember that you loved Mom. And I remember that we loved you. And now that we're all back together again, I remember that we still love you."

Van took his daughter in his arms, as she shuddered into his chest. "I'm sorry, Daddy. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

He let his daughter cry into his shoulder, gently rubbing her back in reassurance.

"There's nothing to be sorry for, Ashley. I do love you both. All I've ever wanted all these years was for the five of us to be together again. We've worked so hard to make sure we could reach where we are now, and now that we finally have it…the five of us will remain together. As the family we were meant to be," he reassured her. "And if Scar tries to pull that shit again, well…you remember we spanked his ass a few days ago right?"

She chuckled despite herself. "Language, Dad. Mom was right when she said you had a potty mouth."

Her father snorted. "Hah! Hers is worse."

They broke into laughter, the tears forgotten and blown away by the gentle evening wind. She hugged her father tightly before they got up from the ground, proving to herself that he was right here with her. Things would be better now. Her father was here; her family was restored once more, and they would heal together. She gazed at the spot where the young couple had been chasing their baby daughter, where 17 years ago her own family had been ripped apart at that very same spot. She smiled, realizing she no longer hated that spot.

Her father called to her. She waved her hand back, and jogged to him, laughing at a joke he made. Together, the two walked back home.


End file.
